Jump Then Fall
by ashleyxx19
Summary: What's a girl to do when the hottest guy in school takes a sudden interest in her? And what's a guy to do when he knows that it's probably not such a good idea? Read & review please :)
1. Chapter 1: Gabriella

"Are you doing anything tonight?"

I looked over at Brooke and shook my head, not wanting to really say anything since we're in class and our teacher's annoying as hell. She'll call you and ask to share what you're talking about and you can't ever think of anything to make up in the moment so half the time, people end up just saying what they were talking about and it's just the worst. So I stay quiet.

But I know Brooke wants more of an answer. She wants to know what we could do tonight. I mean, it is Friday. Who wants to sit at home and watch TV?

Actually, after the week I've been having, that wouldn't be so bad.

So I roll my eyes, tear off a piece of paper and write what I couldn't say out loud.. well, what I didn't want to stay out loud.

_Nothing. Maybe we can go to the football game or go to dinner and a movie with everyone. You pick. Or just have a little best friend time. Up to you!_

I hand her the note when our teacher has her back to us and she reads it and then just smiles and nods her head.

Is she serious? That's the exact answer she wasn't satisfied with me giving and that's all she's going to give me? Whatever. I can't deal with her or that right now. My teacher is writing down notes by the second and I have to write them down all. I can't talk and write. It's just impossible for me.

"Mr. Bolton," I hear Mrs. Davis say so I immediately look up from my notes, "nice of you to finally join us."

He hands her a piece of paper, probably a note to excuse him, and smiles slightly at her, like he doesn't give a shit about what she's saying. She takes it, puts it on her desk and then asks him to take a seat and copy the notes.

He walks through my row, very slowly, like he's trying to make everyone look at him or something. Which he doesn't have to try hard to do, to be honest. And then all of a sudden, he looks at me. And before I know it, my notebook and pencil are on the ground, courtesy of him.

He picks them up, gives me a smirk and pops them down on my desk, "sorry."

I don't say anything. He dropped my notebook and pencil and he's acting like it was a cute thing for him to do. It wasn't. It was annoying. And he's annoying.

Troy Bolton is annoying.

But also, incredibly good looking. Like, way too good looking. It's almost not fair.

Okay and maybe he wasn't thaaaat annoying. But whatever.

After a little while, the bell rings and we're free to go. Thank God. It's lunchtime now and it's my favorite time. Juniors and Seniors get to leave for lunch if they want and right now, that couldn't be anymore perfect because I'm craving a bagel from this bagel shop down the street.

"Alexis is coming with me to get a bagel, you wanna come too?" I ask Brooke as we head out of the classroom.

"Nah, I'm just gonna go grab a smoothie or something with Tay."

I shrugged, not really caring. She's my best friend, but she can do whatever. We don't need to be with each other all the time. We both have other friends.

Like Alexis. Who's strolling up to me, a book in her hand, her hair up in a bun, she has little to no make up on and it makes me hate her.

She always looks so effortlessly beautiful.

"Let's go," she tells me as soon as she reaches me, "I'm starving. And also, I want to stop by that juice place afterward. I need some greens in my life."

Oh God. This girl and her green juices. Gross. But yeah, I was starving, too. We turned on our heels and walked to the entrance of the school, where it was crowded, with kids pushing through to get out. If everyone could leave during lunch, they would. But even if they're allowed to leave, some don't. Some don't have cars. Some don't have parents who want to sign their permission slip to let them go. But this school has over 2,000 kids. Of course there are still a lot of people leaving at lunch.

As we're walking to my car, I felt someone graze my shoulder.

He stopped immediately, turning around to see who he almost knocked down. Okay, he didn't almost knock me down, but whatever.

It was Troy. Troy Bolton.

He looked at me, not saying anything for what felt like forever and then a tiny smile appeared on his face and two words came out of his mouth, "I'm sorry."

That was it. He turned around, I heard some chuckling and that was that.

"God, he's so hot," I hear Alexis say once he's out of sight, "like, how does someone get to be that attractive? And I'm sure he knows it, too."

Oh, he definitely knows it. Troy Bolton runs shit. He has a ton of friends. Everyone wants to be his friend. He's captain of the soccer team. He probably has sex every night with whichever girl he wants. He's good looking, has a nice car, a nice house, everything.

Troy Bolton has it all.

"Whatever," I shrug, looking for my keys in my purse, "he's annoying."

"You don't even talk to him," Alexis laughed as she opened my car door, hoping into the passenger seat and then waited until I was in the driver's seat before she continued talking, "you're just mad like the rest of us that you don't get him."

"I don't want him," I made a face, throwing my purse in the backseat, "no. And I don't know why anyone else would. Sure, he's hot, but he's just so… I don't know the word nor do I care."

Alexis rolled her eyes and put down the visor so she could look at herself in the mirror, "Yeah, okay, Gabriella, whatever you say."

I dropped it. I mean, what else is there to say?

We pulled out of the school parking lot, made our way over to Einstein Bagels and as we were walking to the entrance, two boys were as well. And of course, it was none other than Troy Bolton and Matt Miller. Greaaaaat.

"Ladies," Matt opens the door and gives us an annoying smirk, "after you."

We walked in, got in line, ordered and within 10 minutes, we were sitting down three tables away from Troy and Matt, who were laughing and messing around. Typical boys.

I got up to throw my trash away and coincidentally, so did Troy.

"I like your bracelet."

What? I looked over at Troy who was looking down at my wrist and a small smile was appearing on his face. My bracelet? He's complimenting my bracelet that my grandma made me out of boredom and beads? Ha. "Oh, um, thanks."

He threw his trash away, filled up his drink while I waited to fill up mine and then turned back to me, "see ya around."

And that was that. Troy Bolton talked to me three times today. And he complimented my bracelet.

What a weird day.


	2. Chapter 2: Troy

I feel like I've always known Gabriella was hot.

But today, for some reason, it just hit me. She's not only hot, she's beautiful. Like breathtakingly beautiful. And it took me knocking her notebook over on accident, bumping into her, again on accident, and seeing her at lunch to realize that.

Which is crazy because I've been going to school with her for the past four years. But I just… I've never had a class with her until this year.

I definitely knew who she was, though.

Gabriella Montez. Smart girl. Not in with the "it" popular crowd, but by no means is she a loser. She has her group of friends and I appreciate that. She's a bit on the quiet side, never really in the midst of everything going on at this school. She just seems like a nice girl.

And all of a sudden, I want to talk to her. I mean. I complimented her bracelet for God's sake.

Sure, it's a nice bracelet, but that's such a dumb thing to say. Especially coming from a guy. Like why am I noticing her bracelet? But I just couldn't think of anything else to say to her. I just knew I wanted to say something to her. And that's what came out. It wasn't embarrassing, but it was probably just really weird to her. And it was really weird to me, too. That's what I say to her? Ugh. Bolton.

Whatever. I don't have time to stress about this girl. A girl who I've never really talked to before in my life. But I always knew was hot. Really hot. Not, like, obvious hot you know? Blonde hair, blue eyes. Nah.

"Dude, let's go," Matt comes up to me, "we have five minutes."

Fuck. I grab my drink, realizing I'm still standing in the same place I was five minutes ago and nod, "yeah, yeah, let's go."

We get outside, go to my car and as we pull out of the parking lot, Matt turns to me, "you okay?"

"What?" I turn to him, waiting for the traffic to pass by so I can exit, "um, yeah, yeah, I'm good. Why wouldn't I be?"

He shrugged, "no, you just looked a little lost in there. You took, like, five minutes to grab a drink. Were you talking to that Gabriella girl?"

That Gabriella girl. Ha. "No. Well, I said hi or whatever, that's about it."

I didn't say hi. I complimented her bracelet. Ha.

"Oh," Matt switched the dial to some radio station I don't ever listen to so I turned it back to where it was. No way was I going to let him mess with my music even though he's my best friend. Nope. "She's hot. And you wanna know who she's supposedly dating?"

"Who?" I say, almost way too fast. Fuck. Tone it down, Troy.

"Grant Anderson," he laughs, more so than he should, probably, "isn't that crazy? He's the biggest douche, ever. And I don't know her well, but I hear she's a really nice girl. So I don't know how that worked out."

Grant Anderson? The guy I absolutely hate with everything inside of me? The guy who in 10th grade took my spot as starting midfield on my club team?

Fuck him. I hate him. I hate him so much.

This information didn't bum me out. But it just… here I am, all of a sudden really taking her in, really seeing how beautiful she was, and I have to find out that Grant fucking Anderson is dating her? Like how did he even get her? That isn't fair. Fuck him. He's annoying.

"Never would have thought that," I shrug it off, trying not to let him see what's going through my head.

And to be honest, I don't even know what's going through my head. I don't like this girl. I don't know anything about her.

But suddenly, I want to. I want to get to know her. And everything she has to offer.

I probably shouldn't, though. I know that.


	3. Chapter 3: Gabriella

"What's up with Grant?" Brooke asks me as we're laying in bed Saturday morning.

She spent the night after we went to the football game and today, we're probably just going to do some shopping and go to my cousin's soccer game.

I sit up, grab my phone from my nightstand and see that I have no new text messages. Ha. What a loser I am. "Nothing's up with Grant."

"No?" Brooke sits up as well, "that's completely over with?"

"It was barely anything to begin with," I roll my eyes, opening my Instagram app, "how could I seriously ever date someone like Grant Anderson? That first few dates were all for show. And once he got that fifth, sixth date, it's like he felt like he had me. And I just didn't like any of it. I knew going in, though..."

"I know, but you said he called you and you were thinking about going to his game?" she reminds me, "that's not happening?"

I shake my head, locking my phone and tossing it to the side, "no. I can't. And I don't want to."

Brooks nods her head, understanding that it's just not my taste. There are girls who want to date these athletes and these guys who can get any girl in hopes of turning them into something they want them to be, but that's just not me. I want a nice boy. A guy who is nice to his mom. Who cares about school. Who has goals and ambitions. Who treats me nicely in front of everyone, especially his boys. I just want a guy who appreciates me and sees me for all that I am.

And Grant Anderson is not the guy for me. I know this.

"Well, you didn't give him much of a chance, but I can see it not working out, I guess."

She's right. I didn't. For all I know he could treat me like a princess. But I doubted it. He was cocky, arrogant and everything else I hate in a guy on those last few dates and I just couldn't see it. I couldn't see myself with him.

I got up and went over to my dresser and grabbed my chapstick and applied some, "whatever. I don't need a boyfriend."

She smiled and got up as well, going over to her bag, "yeah, you don't! You're fine on your own."

Exactly. "We should get dressed, huh? The game's in an hour."

"Oh, yeah, yeah, we probably should."

Soccer. I loved the game. I played until last year and then I got injured and had surgery so I couldn't play anymore. But I go to my sister's games, I go to my cousin's game, anyone's really. I just love watching the game. It's so much fun.

So today, I'm going to my cousin's first game of his club season.

And I couldn't be more excited.

* * *

"His game next weekend is at 1 pm," my aunt Martha tells me, "don't know if it's an away game, though. If so, we can carpool if you want."

I shrugged, not knowing what next weekend had in store for me yet, "yeah, maybe. I'll see what I'm up to."

But Brooke, whether I went or not, would be there. She's the most supportive girlfriend, ever. And she likes soccer. Yep, my best friend and my cousin are dating and no, I'm not against it, but yes, I was at one point.

Because I mean, how awkward would it be if they broke up? Extremely. Brooke is my very best friend in the whole world. The kind of best friend who has a key to your house, who knows all your family members because she comes to every party, who calls my mom her mom. She's that kind of best friend.

So yes, it was a little weird at first, but I wasn't going to stop them since they truly had feelings for each other.

And now a year later, they're still dating.

"I'm a bit nervous," my aunt tells me, "this is a really good team. They play with four up top and two of their players are shoe-ins for scholarships at really good schools, so I hope the boys can pull through and get a win."

"I'm sure they will," I give her some reassurance even though I have no clue if they will.

My cousins team is the best, but a couple players have injuries and I'm not sure if the new players will mesh will their team just yet.

But it's better being an optimist than a pessimist, right?

Brooke gets on her phone before the game starts, my aunt gets up to talk to one of the other parents like she's always doing and my uncle is busy trying to tell my cousin everything he should do even though he's not the coach. Typical. So I just sit there, and look around the place.

And that's when I see him... Troy Bolton.

I couldn't help, but just stare. And it's so crazy because I've seen Troy Bolton before. Many times.

But it just all feels so different now. I don't know. Maybe because it's the first time I've had a class with him, but every time I see him, I can't help, but stare. And sure, he's slightly annoying, but that doesn't take away from the fact that he's incredibly good looking. SO HOT.

My aunt comes back, takes a seat and offers me a water bottle, which I shake my head to because I brought one with me. It's in my purse.

"So, who are your new players?" I ask her, even though I already know.

"Oh, Troy," she points to him, and I hope to God he doesn't look over because that would be so embarrassing, but thank goodness he's too busy passing the ball around, "he's really good. And Craig, don't know where he is, but number 5. He's good, too. Not as good as Troy, but he will definitely do. He goes to school with Daniel and they're friends. He played for another club team, but once he heard we had a spot open, he jumped at the opportunity. I think he'll be fine here. Not sure about Troy, though. I don't know much."

This is why I asked. She always just gives me so much information... about everything. "Troy actually goes to my school."

She turned in her chair and tilted her head, "really?"

"Yeah," I nod and look over at Brooke, but she's too busy on her phone and not listening to our conversation. I don't really want to clue her in or bring her in. It's not that big of a deal. "Yeah, he's in one of my classes. He is pretty good. I've seen some games."

"Oh, great," she smiles, clapping her hands together, "yeah, his last club team was really good, probably the best in the area, but most of the guys went off to college and it kind of just dissembled, which was great for us, definitely."

I smile at her and don't say much else. Everyone's lining up and they're getting ready to start the game, which is exciting. I love soccer so much.

And Daniel's like my brother.

My mom and aunt are twins so we're closer than most cousins. And I don't have a brother of my own, he doesn't have a sister so my sister and I are like his sisters. We're just incredibly close and me coming to his games is normal. It's like I'm his sister tagging along with his parents.

Daniel kicks it off, passing the ball to one of his teammates and within minutes, they almost get a goal in.

And it was like that for the rest of the game. Almost scoring, but jut not there.

Until the second half, halfway through, this guy passed it to Daniel who chipped it up in the air and Troy headed it in.

It was a beautiful goal and it was a great start to him being on the team. People were cheering for him, he seemed happy about it, and all his teammates looked like they were accepting him. Which was cool to witness.

And after that goal, they probably got momentum or something, because they scored two more, back to back. And ended up winning 3-0.

"Do you girls want to get some lunch?"

I look over at Brooke and shrug. We came together so it was up to her. I could go for some lunch. And if I know my aunt, she's craving sushi. Which I am, too. So that pulls me in a bit more. "Yeah, sure, where were you thinking?"

She pretends to think about it, but I know exactly what she wants. "Are you girls okay with sushi?"

At this point, Brooke knows my aunt so well that it makes us both laugh. "Yes."

We stand around and wait for Daniel to finish talking to his coach and his teammates. My aunt and uncle go to their car and tell us to take Daniel to the restaurant with us, so we stay behind and wait for him. And then they all get up, go grab their bags and all go their separate ways.

Daniel comes up to us, gives me somewhat of a hug since he's sweaty, and then gives a kiss to Brooke. So cute.

"Thanks for coming, you guys," he says as if this is something new.

"You played great, babe," Brooke tells him as she grabs her purse from the ground and her water, "you so had that goal at the end, I'm still pissed about it."

He laughed and was about put his arm around Brooke's shoulder and head over to the car when someone put their hand on his shoulder. Daniel turned around and came face to face with Troy Bolton.

Troy gave him a little pat on the back, "good game, man. You'll get it next time."

Daniel smiled and nodded, "yeah, man, thanks. Good game."

And that was the end of that. I picked up my chair from the ground and followed behind him and as I did, Troy looked back at me quickly, looked ahead, but then looked back once more. Like he was doing a double take. It suddenly made me nervous. And I have absolutely no idea why.

"Hey," he tells me with a smile.

"Hi," I push some hair behind my ear, throw the chair over my shoulder and fix the glasses on top of my head.

Daniel and Brooke are way ahead of us, his arm around his shoulder, being all cute with each other. And here are Troy and I walking next to each other.

And I really don't know what to do, what to say. I could say good game, but that's so cliche. Not cliche, necessarily, just, I don't know. I don't really care to tell him that, to be honest. I'm fine walking here in silence.

He's clutching onto his bag and I can feel him stealing glances at me and it makes me feel weird and good all at the same time. I have no idea what is going on. Or why all of a sudden our paths are crossing like crazy. It never used to be like this.

We exit the field and it seems like he's going the opposite way I am, so he slows down a bit, turns me to and gives me another smile, "see ya around."

"Okay," is all I say. Like a freaking idiot.

And then I walk over to my car where Brooke and Daniel are waiting for me.


	4. Chapter 4: Troy

"Dude, who are you looking at?"

I turn around, shaking my head as I'm walking to the car with my brother, "no one."

Lie. It was someone. Gabriella Montez. I was watching her walk away. I was trying to get one last look at her. And apparently, I was making it way too obvious. I knew I was. I kept turning around. I turned around, like, 5 times in the span of 20 seconds. A little crazy, if you ask me.

But I just couldn't help it. I had no idea she'd be here. And I had no idea why I'm all of a sudden running into her everywhere. And why all of a sudden I get excited to see. It's weird. Something I wasn't expecting.

Yet here I am, wondering why she was here, wondering where she was going and wondering so many things about her.

"You hungry?" my brother asks as he gets in the car, him in the driver's seat, me in the passenger's seat, "I'm down for some sushi or Mexican food."

"Yeah, let's get some Mexican," I buckle up and then lean the chair back.

As my brother drove off, I looked out the window and saw Gabriella coming out of the parking lot in her car. With Daniel in the passenger seat. Okay. I know Daniel's dating that girl he had his arm around so yeah, him and Gabriella definitely aren't together. But they're not brother and sister. I know that for sure. He'd be going to our school if he was and he doesn't go to our school. Whatever. Now I know she was here for Daniel.

My brother Seth merged onto the freeway to get to the restaurant we were going to faster and I sat back in my seat and closed my eyes for a second.

Until he started talking about some bullshit, "I saw Megan last night at that party I went to."

Fuuuck. Why would he think I would want to talk about her? "Seth, shut the fuck up. I'm not in the mood."

"Don't be such an asshole," he tells me as he switches lanes to the carpool one, "she was completely nice and she told me to tell you hi. And honestly, you need to get over that. You're not the best guy, either."

"But I wouldn't cheat on anybody!" I pretty much yell at him, but I can't stand Megan talk. Or Megan. I don't want to talk about it.

Seth looks at me like he doesn't believe me which sucks because he's MY fucking brother. "To be honest, you guys weren't technically together so I mean, she didn't cheat on you. And also, you've never gotten that close to anyone to not cheat so how are you going to say that?"

Fuck him. Sure, I hook up with girls a lot. I've cut back, though. But that doesn't mean I would cheat on anyone. I just, I don't think I can do it.

"Look, I'm sorry, okay?" he apologizes once I don't say anything, "I know you really liked her so I get it. I get the animosity, the anger and shit, but I really think she's sorry for what she did. And you guys were good friends before..."

"Yeah, before, okay? I don't want to be friends with her."

"Fine," Seth drops it as he switches lanes again so he's closer to the exit in a mile or so.

Good. I don't want to talk about Megan. Not now, not ever. Was she the first girl I actually really, really liked? Yes. She was. A month of bliss together and then she goes and hooks up with fucking Grant Anderson. Yes. Grant Anderson, the guy I already hated with everything inside of me. Can you believe that? Out of everyone, she chose Grant Anderson. And the most annoying part of it all, is that Grant made it seem like it was his doing. Like, he's the one who pursued her to get under my skin. To make it seem like he can take something away from me... again. It was just a fucked up situation and I hate thinking about it, talking about it, or giving it any type of attention.

I'm over it. It happened 3 months ago. And I'm fine. I've hooked up with girls since.

I'm good. I don't need Megan.

* * *

"Mr. Bolton since you are late, you get the pleasure of delivering these heavy books to Mr. Schaeffer in the history building," my teacher tells me with a small smile on her face as if it's actually that bad. It's not. I get out of class! "Room 210."

She gave me four books which were heavy but it was nothing I couldn't handle. So whatever.

I exited the classroom, made my way to the history building, gave Mr. Schaeffer the books and then used the bathroom before heading back to class.

And as I came out of the bathroom, I saw Gabriella.

There she was, walking down the hall towards me, carrying a hall pass, looking inside every room as students usually do. She was so beautiful. She was wearing jeans, some boots or whatever those little boots are called, I don't know, and a flannel. It was so simple, yet she made it look so good.

"Excuse me," she tells me.

"What?" I realize she's now standing in front of me, talking to me.

"Um, you're in the way," she says and it's not rude at all. She said it with a chuckle and pointed to the door I was standing in front of.

Oh, yeah, I was. I was standing in front of a classroom. Her classroom, I guess. And here I was, being an idiot, not saying anything, but just staring. How embarrassing. She totally knows I find her attractive. How could he not? I'm making it so freaking obvious.

But I don't think I care. I think she should know she's beautiful. And that guys want her.

"Right, sorry," I move over to the side.

She gives me a small smile and reaches for the handle.

And then something came over me to just compliment her, "I like your hair."

Gabriella turned to me, giving me a blank look for what felt like forever and then a small smile appeared on her face. She reached her hand to her hair, and pushed a strand back behind her ear. I don't think she was expecting this. You could tell on her face she wasn't expecting it. "Oh, um, thank you."

"You're welcome," I say before giving her a smile and walking away. Just like that. Even though I didn't want to.

She went back inside her classroom, I went down the stairs and back to my room before my teacher got even more pissed at me.

I did like her hair today. She straightened it. And it's never straight.

Nope. In all the times I've noticed her or seen her, she always had waves. Curly hair or whatever. It was never straight. And sure, she may straighten it all the time, but I don't recall a time I've seen it. So I told her I liked it, because I did. She looked good.

And now here I am, on my way back to class and I couldn't stop thinking about her.

Why? Why am I all of a sudden into the idea of talking to Gabriella Montez?

I never used to think about her like this. I never used to pass by her and think about her. I would just pass by her, think she was cute or whatever, and not give it a second thought. But now, I pass by her and I WANT to talk to her. I want to just stand there and stare at her. I want her to talk to me. And tell me something. I don't know what, but I want it to be something.

It has nothing to do with Grant. I found out about Grant AFTER I first got the urge to just want to talk to her. After I realized that she's actually so beautiful.

Maybe it's because for the past two years, her and Andrew Moore dated. And she was off limits.

That has to be it. I mean, she had to have been this attractive two years ago. That kind of attractiveness doesn't just come overnight. No. She was. But she was taken. So that was probably always in the back of my mind and I just didn't give it much thought.

But her and Andrew broke up 4 months ago. Over the summer.

And now it's senior year, and I'm seeing her in a new light. She's breathtaking. She really is. And she just seems like such a nice, down to earth girl.

Whatever. I don't have to think about her.

In fact, I shouldn't think about her. No. So, I head back to class, pop down in my seat and I tried my hardest to only think about what my teacher was saying, but it's hard to do that when you don't give a fuck about chemistry.

Of course my mind wanders back to Gabriella, like it has been for the past few days.

And I can't, for the life of me, figure out why.


	5. Chapter 5: Gabriella

Troy Bolton likes my hair?

Whaaaat? Could this week be any more strange? I swear. It's been the longest week of my life and I'm just ready for it to be over.

"Gabriella!" Alexis snaps her fingers in front of my face, "are you okay?"

"What?" I snap out of my thoughts and nod my head as I open the trunk of my car so we can put our books and backpacks in here, "oh yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Sorry, I was just... um, yeah, I'm fine."

"You sure?" she asks as soon as we're in the car, "you've been a bit weird all week. Especially today."

Well, yeah, wouldn't you be weird if your ex boyfriend texts you and tells you he really misses you? And if the hottest guy in school tells you that he likes your hair. I mean, why is my ex boyfriend texting me and why is Troy Bolton complimenting me? I feel like everyone's just playing a prank on me.

How is it possible that Troy Bolton is all of a sudden everywhere and telling me he likes my bracelet and my hair and smiling at me as if we're friends.

And why is Andrew texting me when he's across the country? There's absolutely nothing we can do about our relationship.

"I'm fine," I tell her, but yeah, Andrew texting me Tuesday did throw me off. ALL week. Especially because he doesn't stop. He hasn't stopped. No matter how short I am with him, "I'm just glad it's the weekend finally."

"Girl, me too," Alexis leans back and kicks her feet up on my dashboard, "I'm so ready to just relax. But are we going to Kenzie's party tonight?"

Oh Kenzie. Forgot about that. Fuck. And it's not just a party. It's a birthday party. No gifts, but still. It's this big thing. She practically invited the whole senior class. And I have been friends with her since middle school so I feel like I have to go no matter how tired I am and all I want to do is eat ice cream in bed.

I have to go. It's Kenzie! "Yeah, yeah, we should. I love Kenzie."

"Nose goes on being the DD!" she puts her pointer finger on her nose and smirks at me.

"That's fine, I don't care, I'm not in the mood to drink," I tell her as I looked to my right to see that there were no cars coming.

I'm not a big drinker. We go to parties and stuff, but one or two drinks is fine with me. Or zero. Which is why I don't mind being the DD for my friends at all. For me, it's better to be in control and just know what's going on at all times. But nothing against people who drink.

Well, a bit. I don't want someone who needs to drink to have a good time. And my friends don't. Thank God.

"So what's up?" she turns to me, "I know Andrew texted you Tuesday and you've been weird ever since then. Is everything okay? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I tell her as I come to a stop at a red light, "I am. It was a stupid text."

"Gabs, he told you he missed you after not talking to you for three months," she points out to me, "and you guys were together for two years. Two whole years together and then he leaves. You have to still be sad about it. It's totally normal if you are."

I'm not. I'm not sad about it. I'm more mad than sad. And I really don't want to talk about it. I hate Andrew. "He's an asshole and I don't want him back."

I could feel Alexis rolling her eyes, "it would kind of be hard since he's away at school, BUT that wouldn't change your feelings. Do you still love him?"

No. No, I don't. How can I love someone who deceived me so badly? "No."

"No?" she was a bit stunned, I know.

"No," I repeat and suddenly, everything's just coming out. As I'm driving. Ugh. "No, I don't still love him. I don't want to be with him. I don't want him to text me. And I definitely don't want to talk about it, Lex. Two years he just threw out the window when that wasn't the plan. So no. I hate him. I hate him a lot."

I don't hate him. I would never hate anyone. But I'm serious. I'm fine. And I'm over him. Completely.

Alexis sighed. She took her feet off the dashboard and turned to me, "I know you don't want to talk about it. We've talked about it. But it's been three months and I don't know. You not giving Grant a chance... I just thought..."

"I kind of gave him a chance," I correct her, "and it just didn't work out, okay? Who says I have to date to be fine? I don't want to date. I'm fine."

"Okay, okay," she throws her hands in the air, "sorry."

"It's okay," I feel a bit bad now. I know she's just trying to be a good friend and lend an ear. But what's the use of talking about him? It's over and done with and there's no chance of us getting back together. EVER. "I'm sorry, too. I know you're just trying to help me."

She shrugs, "It was a long time for a high school relationship. I know how in love you were. It must hurt. So I get it. I do."

I look over at her and smile. I'm happy to have such good friends. "Thank you."

Fuck Andrew. I just want to be happy.

* * *

"You sure you don't want a drink?" Alexis asks me later that night, "because if you do, we can just call my sister. She'd be more than willing to pick us up."

I shake my head as I look down at her drink and even though it looks really good, nah. I'm not in the mood.

She shrugs, leaving me there by myself and walks away.

And then I spot Brooke walking towards me. Thank God. She was going to bring Daniel, but he was having boys night with his buds so it's just her. She walked right up to me, gave me a hug as if she hadn't seen me in forever and looked around the place, "where's Lex? Didn't she come with you?"

"Yeah," I look down at the shoes she's wearing, which are new, "she's around here somewhere. Where'd you get those shoes?"

"Oh, you like them?" she puts one leg up, "I got them at Free People. They were on sale so I just had to get them. Cute, huh? I'm seriously so obsessed."

I laughed and agreed. They were really cute. And thank God we're the same size.

Brooke told me she was going to go get a drink and look for Kenzie to wish her a happy birthday and since I had to use the bathroom, it was the perfect time to separate. She went one way, I went the other way.

And once I was inside Kenzie's beautiful home, I made my way to the bathroom, knowing exactly where it was.

No one really was inside. But she lets people in and out to use the restroom so I went inside, used the bathroom, washed my hands, checked myself out in the mirror to make sure I looked okay and I had no makeup running down my face, and then headed back to the party.

As I was turning the corner, though, I bumped into someone. And I bumped into them kinda hard.

"Whoa," I felt some big hands grab my forearms to keep my from falling, "you okay?"

I regained my balance and nodded before looking up at whoever it was. And when I did, I thought I was going to lose my balance all over again. Fuuck.

Troy Bolton. Troy Bolton was the person I bumped into. And the person who's looking at me, probably trying to figure out why I'm just standing here like an idiot. But I mean, fuck. He's everywhere. And I'm being an idiot. "Oh, um, yeah, yeah, I'm fine."

He smiles at me as he lets go of my forearms, "sorry."

"Me too," I say because if we're being honest here, it is my fault.

I was coming way too fast. I even thought about slowing down a bit. Ha. But oh well. Now I'm standing here, feeling awkward and since there's nothing really else to say, I give him a small smile and then make my way around him to go outside and rejoin my friends.

"Gabriella," I hear behind me. What. I turn around and see Troy standing there holding out a chapstick, "I think you dropped this."

"Oh," I definitely dropped it, but hearing my name coming out of his mouth. Oh my gosh.

I mean, I obviously know his name. He's the most popular guy in school. Who doesn't know Troy Bolton? But I just... I mean, okay, I'm sure if i thought about it, I would think he knew my name, but I don't know, it still caught me by surprise. My name coming out of his mouth. The most popular guy in school.

He's holding my chapstick out still so I walk over grab it, say thanks and then turn around and walk out.

Brooke and Alexis are sitting around a fire, hanging out with some of our other friends and laughing at something so I go and join them. And for the next few hours or so, this is what I want to do. Just hang out with my friends. And relax. I've had a weird, long week.

And 30 minutes later, as I'm laughing at something Alexis said, I feel a slight tap on my shoulder.

I turn around and Troy is standing there with a small smile on his face. Weird. So I get up and he pulls me over to a more secluded area.

My friends aren't even paying attention. I don't even think they know I got up, which was good I guess. I didn't want to have to explain why Troy pulled me aside. It was just weird. I still don't even know what I'm doing right now standing in front of him.

"Do you wanna get out of here?" he asks me.

Out of here? What the fuck. What does he even mean? "What?"

He chuckles a bit and then repeats himself, "do you want to get out of here?"

"No, yeah, I heard you," I tell him, tugging at my sweater a bit, looking around the place, wondering what the hell was going on here. Like, why is he asking me if I want to get out of here. With him. It's so fucking weird. I can't even put it into words. "But why?"

"I want to hang out with you," is his simple answer. He answers as if nothing. As if it's not weird and totally out of the norm.

And now I'm looking into his blue eyes, and they're so mesmerizing and all of a sudden, I want to say yes.

So I do. I say yes. "Okay."

"Yeah?" he smiles at me, "meet me out front in five minutes?"

I nod my head as he turns around and walks away. And the second he does, I go over to Brooke and Alexis and tell them that something came up and I'll tell them later about it. But as I'm walking away from them, I'm suddenly rethinking everything.

Should I really go with him? I don't even know him. This could be the worst mistake ever. What if he's just using me? What if I'm part of some bet with his stupid friends? What if he wants to kill me? No. I shouldn't. I shouldn't go with him anyone. Right? It's dumb. It's silly. It's going to be a mistake. I should just go back to my friends and just leave him out there in front by himself.

But I don't. I go to the front and he's standing there with his jacket in hand and giving me a smile.

"So, I've kinda had some drinks tonight..."

"That's fine," I show him my keys after I pull them out of my purse, "I'm good."

He follows me over to my car, gets in the passenger seat and before I even turn on the car, I turn towards him, "where are we going?"

Troy buckles up and then looks over at me, "you hungry?"

"Yeah, sure," I tell him. Ha I'm always hungry. But I'm not going to tell the most attractive guy that. It's weird. Then again, this whole night is weird. I mean, if I were to think about Troy Bolton before coming to this party, I would have bet money that I would have seen him, but never would I have thought I'd be hanging out with him afterward. No. This isn't normal. Like at all. "Um, any places in mind?"

"Anything Mexican," he says and I'm smiling inside. I'm craving some tacos so badly right now so that's perfect.

"Okay," I turn my car on, put it into drive and pull out of the parking spot.

How did my night turn out like this?


	6. Chapter 6: Troy

"So why did you ask me to hang out?" Gabriella asks me before she takes a bite of her taco.

Um. Whoa. Okay, I didn't expect her to ask me this. So I don't really know how to respond. I open my container of nachos, grab a couple and pop them in my mouth before answering her, "well, why not?"

She gives me this weird look and I know my answer sucks, but I just didn't have one for her. "Maybe because we don't know each other."

It was weird. I admit. But after bumping into her and going to drink a few beers with my buddies, all I could think about was her. And this sudden urge of just wanting to hang out with her appeared. So I asked her and now here we are. "I just wanted to hang out with you."

That answer shut her up. She didn't say anything after that. She just ate her taco.

And then she looked around the place.

We were currently on the patio of my backyard because well, why not? I needed a ride home, anyway, and by her eating her foot here with me, it wouldn't feel like she was just my chauffeur because that's not what she was at all. No. I wanted to hang out with her.

"Why, are you not supposed to be here?" I poked, wanting to know what she'd actually say.

"Why do you say that?

"I don't know, aren't you dating Grant Anderson?"

She looks at me like she's surprised I knew that, like I couldn't possibly hear something about her. I don't know. "No."

Wait. She's not? Matt either had his information wrong or she already kicked him to the curb. "He's an asshole, anyway." He is. He's such an asshole.

But she looks at me as if I'm in the wrong for saying that. Like I have no right. Which maybe I don't. Maybe I shouldn't say that. I mean, people probably view Grant and I in the same way but I don't think we are. Sure, we're similar in the way we live our lives and stuff, but he's just downright obnoxious and cocky as shit and I just can't stand him. He has no humility whatsoever. I like to think I have some... more than him, anyway.

She looks down at her second taco and carefully takes out every piece of onion and then looks up at me, "is this why you asked me to hang out?"

"What?" I'm confused. Is why what?

"Grant. You thought I was dating him, for whatever reason I can tell you don't like him, so what, you're trying to get back at him?"

Oh fuck. It could come off like that. And maybe on an easy girl I would have thought to do that if I knew Grant was interested in her, but no. No way. That thought didn't even cross my mind. I asked her to hang out for me. Not because I want to get back at Grant.

I shake my head and tell her no for whatever it's worth but she still looks a bit skeptical about it.

"The only way he would know you were here is if you told him," I continue and then I wanna throw the ball back in her court, "why are you here?"

She looks up at me and my gosh, her eyes are brown, very generic, but they're so beautiful. They draw me in and I feel like I can't look away. I don't wanna look away. But she does for a second before shrugging, "I wanted to leave that party."

"Good enough for me," I laugh trying not to make it seem so awkward.

I don't know why she came. Maybe she's telling me the truth. Maybe she really wanted to leave that party. Or maybe she's interested in me. That would be the better one, for sure. I honestly didn't think she'd say yes, either. I went out on a limb. And I forgot about Grant. I forgot that Matt told me. Also, I don't think she would come out and say she wanted to hang out with me too even though she's more straightforward than I thought she'd be, which I like.

We fall into a bit of an awkward silence and I just want to talk to her. Get to know her a bit. "So Daniel is..."

"My cousin," she answers as she reaches for her soda, "pretty much like my brother. We're close."

"So I'll see you at our games then?"

She gave me a small smile, almost like she didn't want to smile at all, "maybe. Depends on what I have going on."

I was surprised to see her at our last game to be honest but I definitely did not mind. I like an audience. Especially if they're as beautiful as Gabriella. "Well hopefully you can make the one on Sunday."

"Maybe," is all she says before shoving the rest of her taco in her mouth.

"How come we've never really talked?" I ask her even though I know the answer on my side. I want to hear what she has to say about it. Her thoughts.

She looks at me, doesn't say anything for a moment and kinda just stares off. "Well we don't really run in the same circle, as you know..."

I do know, but still. I like to think I'm a friendly guy. I get along with most people. We could have easily been friends. "No yeah, I just... we've been going to school together for four years and this is the first time I've actually had a conversation with you."

"I'm sure you haven't had conversations with a lot of other people, either."

Fair enough. I guess I'm just kinda trying to tell her that I'm seeing her in a different way now. And if it were up to me, I'd clear all this food off the table, go sit next to her and kiss the shit out of her.

But obviously I'm not gonna do that. She's not that kind of girl. Which bums me out in this moment because all I can think about is kissing her.

She'd probably freak out though since she doesn't know me well enough and she looks like one of those girls who don't just hook up with guys. Which is why I was so surprised she was with Grant. Grant is the epitome of a player. All he does it go from party to party and hooks up with girls. Crazy how she didn't know that. Or maybe she did. I don't know. Nor do I care.

And now I think about is how she probably thinks I'm the same way. Which okay, sure, I've hooked up with my fair share of girls. And maybe one girl every two weeks. One girl a weekend. Whatever. Grant... 2 girls in one night. Sometimes three.

"I just wanted to hang out with you," I remind her after feeling like she was a bit uncomfortable. Like this is all some kind of game or something.

Again, her brown eyes meet my blue ones and I'm just so sucked in. "Okay."

I smile at her as I grab my drink and take a sip, changing the subject completely. "So how's your knee doing?"

"My knee?" She asks.

"Yeah, didn't you get surgery? You tore your meniscus?"

"Yeah, I did," she pushes her drink away and wipes her mouth with a napkin, "but how'd you know about that? It was over the summer."

I laugh at how cute she is. How she probably thinks no one talks about her or thinks about her. But Gabriella Montez is not a loser. And I'm sure she knows that. She has to know. People talk. People know her. And people like her.

And I knew she was injured. I was at that game she got knocked out and had to be carried off. It was a regular season game, the one right before playoffs and she made the game winning goal three minutes before someone took her out. Of course I remember that. How could you not? It was one of the best games I've ever seen. She was really good. I'm bummed about what happened to her. And I'm sure she is, too.

"I just do," I shrug, "is it feeling better?"

"Yeah," she warms up to the idea of talking about it, "some days it hurts more than others. It all just depends."

"I'm sorry," I tell her and I really do mean it. If it were me, I'd be going crazy not being able to play.

She gives me a small smile as she brushes some hair out of her face, "it's okay. Shit happens. I wasn't going to play professional."

I shrug, "but I'm sure you could've."

Maybe that wasn't the right thing to say. I immediately regretted it because what person who had an injury who took them out of the game wants to hear that? Ugh Troy, you fucking idiot. But it just came out because it's so true. She was really good.

But it didn't seem to bother her too much, "I was whatever."

"You were more than whatever. That goal you made from that angle, I mean, not a lot of people could do that."

She was always looking surprised. Yes, I was at that game. Yes, I remember that goal perfectly. It was one of the nicest goals I've seen. I'm being completely honest here and I hope she doesn't think I'm just bullshitting, because I'm really not. It was such a nice goal and she deserves to hear that.

She leaned back her the seat and brought her feet up, "my last goal."

"People play after injuries all the time. You're not done."

"College soccer is not as easy to get into," she reminds me and trust me, I know, "I think I'm done, which is okay. It's not like I wanted it to be my life."

Well okay. If she says so. I'm not gonna push it any farther. If it were me, I wouldn't want to talk about it. And to be honest, she doesn't seem that torn up about it. She went to the games afterward. I could've sworn I saw her there. But then again, I could have easily just passed her, not paying attention, which is so crazy to me because now I can't imagine ever doing that. I can't imagine not walking by her and not stopping to look at her.

She's THAT beautiful. And it's freaking me out.

"Heard you're a shoe in for a scholarship, though," she tells me with a small smile, which makes me smile.

"Who knows," I try to be humble, but it's all coach has been telling me so I mean, there must be some truth? He knows people. He wouldn't say that to get my hopes up. "This new club team, they fit my style. I hope they're looking at me."

"Where would you want to go? Do you want to get out of here?"

Getting out of San Diego sounds like an amazing idea. But then it doesn't. I grew up here. How can I just leave this place? It's such a crazy thought leaving the town you grew up in and moving to this new place and having to navigate, meet new people, and live there. I'm not sure if I really want that, but I do know that a scholarship is something I'm definitely not passing up. I need it. I need it badly if I want to go to college.

I look away, at my beautiful back yard and think again how I could ever leave this place. "Sometimes. Sometimes, I want to stay right where I am. But as far as where I want to go, well, wherever."

"You'd go to school on the East Coast? That far?" It seems like going that far for school is something she would never want to do.

"Why not?" I shrug, "if schools over there are the only schools that want me, why not? Plus, the east coast get all four seasons like it's supposed to."

She smiles, pushing some hair behind her ear and my God, she's trying to kill me. I know she is. How is it possible she's so beautiful? "I don't know. It's a nice thought, for sure. But Christmas, Thanksgiving, every holiday... I can't imagine not coming back for that. I mean, you definitely still can, yeah, but it's probably such a hassle when you're across the country. And then you get lazy..."

I don't tell her that, that's the last thing on my mind, honestly because well, I don't want her to think I'm this person who doesn't want to spend time with my family. But lately, I am that person. I don't. I don't want to. So the East Coast doesn't sound like too bad of an idea.

"Yeah, but that can't be the reason that holds you back if it's really what you want, if it's a really good school or whatever."

"I know," she nods and shrugs it off, "it's still a while away."

Yeah, true. I don't care to talk about it, either, to be honest. College scares me. It's the last thing I want to think about. But it just came up. She brought it up and I wasn't going to get annoyed and shut it down. So I'm glad it seems like she's over it.

And then for the next 45 minutes, we just talk.

We talk about soccer even though it seemed like earlier she wanted to drop it, but she brought it up again so I was game. We talked about it, though. Our favorite teams. How we started playing. What we love. Everything. Every inch of the game. And it's something I've never had with a girl before so it was nice. It was cool. So cool, actually. It felt refreshing to talk to a girl who didn't talk about what she ate, what she bought at the mall and shit.

No, Gabriella was the real deal. She was smart, she was beautiful, and funny. She was so funny. I don't think some people know that about her.

And I'm glad I was able to find that out tonight. So glad.


	7. Chapter 7: Gabriella

I looked down at my phone. It was 12:30. 12 fucking 30. What the heck.

So I put my phone in my purse and grab my keys out of there, "I should probably go."

Troy immediately sits up and looks a bit confused. But it's 12:30. Does he think I'm going to stay here until 3 and talk to him? Or is he waiting til it's later so he can take me inside and hook up with me? Or am I jumping to conclusions thinking he's actually into me? I am, huh?

But then again, why would he invite me over to hang out? I don't know. It was all so weird to me.

It was weird that I actually was having a good time. That I was actually having a conversation with him that I was enjoying. We were talking about things that I never thought we would talk about. And it was refreshing. It was nice. It was cool seeing him in this light even if he's bullshitting. But it doesn't seem it. He's a nice guy. Sure, I thought he was annoying and he might still be, but he's nice. Troy Bolton is nice. And he's easy to talk to.

I should get going, though. It's late. And though I don't have a curfew, I'm sure my parents wouldn't appreciate me coming home at 2 AM.

"Okay," he finally gets up so I do to, "I'll walk you out."

"You don't have to do that," I tell him since I'm terrified he might try to kiss me. But I shouldn't assume things. I know I shouldn't. Because well, would I be disappointed if it doesn't happen? I don't think so. I don't know. "I'm fine."

But he doesn't listen. He grabs all the trash off the table, walks over to the trash cans on the side of his house, throws them in there and then turns to me as if he's asking me if I'm coming or what.

Oh yeah. I look around making sure I'm not leaving anything behind and then I walk over to him.

He opens the side gate and he lets me out first and then he follows me and walks me straight to my car. I don't expect him to open the car door which he doesn't, which is good. I don't want it to be a moment. We kind of just stand there and I don't really know what to say or do.

"Thanks for hanging out with me," he tells me as he shoves his hands in his pocket.

"Thanks for the food," I tell him like an idiot since he paid.

He smiles at me, takes one hand out of his pocket and runs his hand through his hair, which is long enough to do that, but not long enough to fall over his eyes or forehead which is my favorite kind of hair. God, he has such good hair. And beautiful eyes. And amazing cheekbones. Just... everything. Everything. He is so hot, it's not fair. It's really not. And I have NO idea what business I have being in his presence.

And then I kind of just turn around and head to the drivers seat of my car, not really saying anything else because I don't know what to say.

I get in and he's just standing there, watching me leave, which makes me smile.

And then I'm off. I drive off and I can see him walking back inside his house, through the back.

What a weird, crazy, cool night...

* * *

Then Sunday rolls around, and it gets even crazier.

I came to my cousin's game, sans Brooks since she had to babysit her cousin last minute, and before the game even started, Troy told me he wanted to talk to me after the game, which is something no one wants to hear. BUT we're not anything so it couldn't be that bad right? Only people in relationships freak out when someone tells them that. So I'm sure it's nothing major. I mean, we're barely friends. It can't be anything bad.

The game ends. They win 2-1, with Daniel scoring the first goal. So cool.

And as my aunt is walking away from me since I told her I was leaving, Troy comes up behind me, grabbing my waist a bit.

I turn around, freaked out a bit but I try to hide it. Shit. He scared me, even though I knew he wanted to talk. I ended up parking next to him in the parking lot, though, so I thought I'd wait for him over there so my aunt wouldn't ask any questions.

"Sorry," he laughs, catching on that he caught me off guard, "um, what are you doing? You leaving?"

"Well, the game is over..."

He laughs again and throws his soccer bag over his shoulder as we start walking towards the parking lot. His hair is pushed up and to the side due to the sweat probably and it's the hottest thing, ever. He should always do his hair like that. Of course, it would require sweat and.. gross. No. I don't know what the heck I'm even thinking. I'm weird. And annoying.

We then step foot on the parking lot ground and he turns to me, "you wanna get some lunch or something?"

"Is that what you had to tell me?" I ask, hoping it was. Because lunch sounds good and also, it would be a lot better than hearing him say something along the lines, like, don't tell anyone we hung out. Blah blah blah. Which crossed my mind for a second, I'm not going to lie.

"Yeah," he smiles at me, looking a bit embarrassed which is so cute.

I'm in. I'm hungry. And something inside of me is just feeling him lately and I don't know. It might be the dumbest decision ever, but I don't even care at this moment. "Okay, sure, I'm hungry."

He grabs his keys from his bag and unlocks his car, "good. I'll meet you there? Where do you wanna go? I'm down for anything."

Hmm. What am I in the mood for? Not Mexican. Not burgers. "You like sushi?"

"I love sushi," he walks a few feet ahead and opens the trunk of his car and shoves his soccer bag in there, "my favorite place is Hane Sushi, but if you have a favorite place, we can go there. It doesn't matter."

Ugh I LOVE Hane Sushi. But I don't want to make a big deal about it because well, that's weird. "No, yeah, I've been there. It's good. We can go there."

He closes his trunk and then turns to me with a smile, "okay, cool, I'll see you there then."

I nod and then walk around his car and go to my car which is right next to his, coincidentally. I get in, take a deep breath, and pray to God that this isn't going to be the worst decision of my life. I know it's just lunch. But it's lunch with Troy Bolton. Troy freaking Bolton. Who's the most popular guy in school!

And 10 minutes later, we're walking through the door of the place, and asking for a table for two.

Troy changed out of his uniform. Well, he still has the shorts, but he put on another shirt and took off his cleats and switched them for sports sandals.

But honestly, anything he wears is good. He can seriously wear rainbow sandals and I'll probably still find him attractive.

The hostess took us to our table, gave us our menu, and within a minute, the waitress came and asked what we wanted to drink. And even though Troy told her first, I swear I wasn't copying him. I always get the iced green tea here. It's SO good. Apparently... since he asked for one, too. So.

"What's your favorite roll?" Troy asked as he opened the menu.

"Rainbow, usually. Or the kitchen sink," I didn't even bother to open my menu.

He closed his, too, I think once he realized I was pretty much ready to order whenever the waitress came back. I don't waste time here. Plus, I'm so hungry that I want her to put in the food right away. I think he picked up on it, too, because he then pushed the menus to the side to give her the hint.

And before we knew it, she came back with our drinks and we told her we were ready to order.

Troy got this roll I never even heard of. But he said it's really good. I got mine and then he order some sushi tempura and some sesame chicken for an appetizer, which is so good here. It's the best.

"I'm really hungry," he tells me as the waitress walks away, "I probably could order a couple more rolls."

"Why don't you then?"

He looks at me as if I seriously asked him that. "Because we'd be here for hours."

Hey, after the other night and realizing talking to him is actually pretty nice, I don't think I'd mind. But I do have a birthday dinner to go to tonight so I can't afford to be here for hours. But I'm not gonna tell him that, that's lame. "Well, they give a lot of sesame chicken so I think you'll be fine."

"Yeah, yeah," he nods before taking a sip of his iced green tea, "so, what'd you think of the game?"

The game. Ahhh yes. It was such a good game. "Those guys were undefeated last season. I didn't think... I mean, you guys played really good."

He laughed because he knew what I was going to say. I didn't think they'd win. The other team... well, their team lost 5-2 to them last year. And they didn't change anything so I thought it was going to be the same. But they ended up winning. And I think it's because Daniel's team DID change something. They got Troy. And it's crazy, but seriously, one guy makes the different. He's such a team player, and it wasn't something I expected.

Sure, I'd seen some of his high school games and I remember is him being fouled as the result of not passing it. And everyone yelling at him for being a ball hog. Which is why I thought he wouldn't mesh well.

But nope. He's a team player. And I think Daniel's team has really benefited from having Troy.

"Hey, our team's pretty good," he smiles at me as he reaches for his drink yet again.

"No, yeah, yeah, definitely," I know he's not mad about it, but I feel a little bit bad about it now. I basically said I thought they would lose. "It's just, numbers don't lie. But, yeah, definitely, you guys are really good."

"Thanks," he laughs, "no, yeah, we were a bit nervous about it. I didn't play them with my old club team but I heard they were really good."

I nod. Yes, they were. And they won last year, so you just have it in your mind that they're going to win again. Especially since one of their best players is injured. But I guess Troy easily replaced him. He's probably better, to be honest. "Well, I'm sure you guys will be the ones undefeated this season."

It's true. I really mean it. The way they're playing, how could they not be?

"We'll see," he shrugs, "how's your weekend going?"

Um. Fuck. How do I answer this? If I say good, he's going to think it's because this moment right here. And Friday. But if I say okay, I don't want to be mean. Like, how do I possibly answer this question? Should I just say, it's fine? Is that okay? "Oh, it's good."

"That's good, what have you done?"

"I went shopping yesterday, had a family BBQ, just hung out really. And later, I have a birthday dinner to go to."

"Tessa's?" he asks and I'm a little surprised he knows this. How does he know my friends? But before I could even ask how he knows, he answers, "I saw on Facebook it was her birthday and I know you guys are friends, so figured."

Again, how does he know who I'm friends with? This is all SO strange to me. "Yeah, Tessa."

He smiles and again, takes a drink of his iced green tea, which reminds me to drink mine. "That sounds fun, where at?"

"Island Prime," I get excited just thinking about it. They have the BEST steak. But then I realized I haven't asked how his weekend's going and that's rude of me, probably, so I should. "What about you, how's your weekend?"

"Great," he says right away, pushing his drink away, "great. Got to sleep in until 1 yesterday, won my game today, and now... I'm here."

Okay. I don't know whether to blush or not. Whether to feel happy about it. Was he telling me it was great because he slept until 1, won and he's hanging out with me? Or is he just explaining to me what he did this weekend since I explained, too? Gah. I hate not knowing. I NEED to know. But I guess by the way he's smiling at me, I can kinda assume what he meant.

But I don't want to get my hopes up. I don't even know if I like this. I mean, he's incredibly hot and it's easy to talk to him, but how in the world is this going to go anywhere? He's the most popular guy in school. I'm not popular... I'm just there.

I think he meant it's great because he's here with me and that makes my stomach have major butterflies. Ugh. I can't take it.

"Did you cut your hair?" he changes the subject before I could say anything.

"What?" I grab the end of my hair and look at it. I did. I did cut my hair. But barely anything. Like, 2 inches. Brooke didn't even notice yesterday. What the fuck is going on? No. There's no way he noticed that I cut my hair. How would he?! "Oh, um, yeah, I did. Yesterday."

"Yeah," he nods, like he's proud of himself for noticing or something, "it looks a bit shorter. I like it."

Again, butterflies in my stomach. I can't take it. Why. Why is he being like this. Maybe it's all an act. Maybe he's secretly finding out all this information to use on me to get me to like him or something. "Thanks."

But right now, I didn't even care. I looked into his blue eyes and just melted away.

Not literally, but ugh. He's so hot.


	8. Chapter 8: Troy

As I was watching Gabriella walk away in the least creepy way possible, I was already thinking about asking her to hang out again.

And that's so crazy to me. I literally want to run after her and ask if she wants to grab dinner as well or something, but I know she has plans and I know that would be me coming on waaaay too strong. So I can't. I can't do that. Even though I want to. I really want to.

And it's crazy. How a girl can pull me in this fast. It's absolutely crazy.

I had to hang out with Megan for like two weeks straight to even figure out if there was some sort of connection. If I was willing to even think about asking her out on a romantic date. Two weeks. And with Gabriella, it's, like, two days. How is this happening? And it's not that I mind, it's just freaking me out a bit because Gabriella is a girl whose heart you don't want to break. And I'm not saying I'm going to have the chance to break it, but it's just... not the best idea right now. College is around the corner, she's way too good for me, I'm way too focused on soccer and school soccer coming up. I don't know if it's good.

But now that I've hung out with her, I can't stop. I don't want to stop. I want to see her again.

As she gets in her car, I turn around and get in mine and the minute I turn on my car, I get a text from my friend Jason telling me to go watch the game.

So I do. 10 minutes later, I'm walking into his basement where everyone hangs out when they go over to Jason's house. Jason's a good friend, but he's not in my main group of friends. Probably because he goes to another school. But whatever.

"Dude, we've been calling you for the past 30 minutes," Matt tells me.

"Yeah, where the fuck have you been? Your game ended like two hours ago," Jason chimes in, grabbing a bag of chips, "we just ordered food."

I throw my car keys down on the table and sit down on the empty sofa chair that I was surprised wasn't occupied. "Oh nah, I'm good. I actually just finished having some sushi at Hane's."

Matt takes his eyes off the screen and looks over at me, "Hane's? Who'd you go with?"

"Why does it matter?" I look away from him. He's going to make it a big deal and I don't really care to. I just wanna watch the game.

"Because I texted you this morning asking if you wanted to grab some food later and you just said maybe, you'd hit me up after your game." Fucccck. He's right. Shit. I ditched him for a girl. That's a definite no. Eh, oh well. It was worth it. "So, who'd you go with?"

And as I was about to decide whether to tell him or not, Grant Anderson, Wes Jackson, and Luke Hayes walked down the stairs into the room.

What the fuck. What is this shit? Why are they here?

Jason immediately leaps up and greets them all and I forgot they're friends. Fuuuck. I mean, I didn't forgot. They go to the same school. They're always at the parties Jason throws. We're both his good friends. And I hate that because I love Jason. He's cool as shit. And Grant... isn't.

"Bolton," Grant looks over at me with a smirk, trying to give me a handshake or something.

"Hey," is all I say, refusing to grab his hand.

Jason doesn't know how much I despise him. Only Matt does. And probably Grant. Actually, no, Grant knows we're not friends, but I don't think he knows how much I can't stand him. He's just walks around like he's the shit. And him taking my starting spot or sleeping with Megan definitely didn't help.

There's, like, 9 of us here and it got really loud for a minute or so but eventually everyone became quiet when they zoned in on the game.

And that's when Matt turned to me again and asked the question I didn't answer. "So who'd you go to sushi with?"

"Gabriella," I tell him to get him off my back. I'm not hiding it. I just don't want it to be a thing we discuss right now. I'd have no problem telling him if we were at my house or something. Just the two of us.

And as soon as I said her name, Grant looked over at me. Fuck. I forgot they had something.

Matt gave me a weird look because well, he doesn't know. He doesn't know I ditched that party to hang out with her. And that lately, I just want to hang out with her. He should know. He's my best friend. But I've just kept this to myself for now. I want it for myself.

"Montez?" Matt asks as he reaches for his soda, "you grabbed sushi with Gabriella?"

"Yeah, I did," I took out my phone and for some reason, in that instant, I realized I didn't have her number. Fuck. I wish I did.

No one was really paying attention to our conversation, but I could see Grant eying us. I didn't want to talk about it. I didn't want him to know anything about us. Or talk to me. I just wanted Matt to shut up and pick up my signal that I'll tell him about it later.

But unfortunately he didn't. "Dude, seriously? What?"

Yeah, I know. I know he was surprised. If he were to guess a girl at school, Gabriella wouldn't come up. And it's nothing personal. It's just status, really.

"I'm trying to watch the game, Matt," is what I tell him when he finally gets it since he looks over at Grant.

And then Grant laughs out loud and nothing was happening so of course it got everyone's attention. Especially Jason, who is, like, a bit obsessed with Grant, for whatever dumb reason. And so of course, he wants to know what Grant was laughing at.

Grant shook his head but chuckled, "no, nothing, it's just funny how Bolton got my sloppy seconds."

Sloppy seconds? Okay. I don't know how long they dated, what they did, all the details. But I just know they're no longer dating and he's probably just bitter because Gabriella is, like, so cool. He's probably just jealous. So don't entertain the notion, Bolton. Don't say anything.

"Sloppy seconds?" Jason looks over at me, confused.

"I don't have his sloppy seconds," is all I told him before focusing my attention back on the game in front of me.

Again, Grant laughed and got up and made his way over to the mini fridge Jason had and grabbed himself a soda and popped it open all dramatically, "oh, but you do have my sloppy seconds, which is so crazy to me. Gabriella Montez?"

What does that mean? But whatever, I ignored him. I didn't want to talk to him. About anything. But especially not about Gabriella. No.

"You do know she has a 4.0, is incredibly hot, and is, like, way too good for you?" he goes on, "because if you don't, then I can refresh your memory. I give it, like, a couple days. She probably realized it the moment she left the restaurant, to be honest."

"Probably," I say as I get up and grab my keys so he doesn't have the satisfaction of shutting me up. "I'm out of here."

And with that, I left.

I could hear him laughing still and I just couldn't take it. I wasn't going to sit there and tell me I have his sloppy seconds and that she's too good for me.

Because I know. I know she is. Sloppy seconds, though? I couldn't give a shit about that. She's a fucking person. He's an asshole.

But one thing that does stick with me is that she's too good for me. Which she is. She's way too good for me. She has goals and ambitions. My whole life is soccer. It's not hers. I found out she wants to be a doctor. A fucking DOCTOR. She gets a 4.0 and I'm pushing C's. All around, she's better than me so, yes, in fact, she is too good for me. And what kills me is that she's probably not too good for Grant no matter how much of an asshole and douche bag and player he is. He gets good grades. He's smart. His dad is the fucking mayor of San Diego. His family is picture perfect. It's the fucking worst.

I went from being on a high from hanging with Gabriella to this day turning to complete shit.

Ugh. Fuck Grant. Fuck him and everything he said.


	9. Chapter 9: Gabriella

For some reason, I expected to walk into school on Monday morning, see Troy and have him walk me to class or something.

But that didn't happen. It didn't happen at all.

I walked in like I always do, saw him sitting on the table in the quad like I always do and passed him with him barely looking my way, like I always do. But he saw me. He saw me, he didn't do anything but look away before I couldn't even give him any sort of facial expression. So... that sucked.

It was silly to even think that because we've hung out twice. Two times. That doesn't mean we're anything so why should he walk me to class?

"You okay?" Alexis asked as we walked into English, our first class of the day.

"What?" I'm annoyed that I look anything but okay. I shouldn't even care that he didn't smile or say hi or anything like that. Right? "Yeah, I'm fine."

We take our seats, right next to each other, and she doesn't look entirely convinced, "you sure?"

I nod, not really saying anything else since the teacher came in, listing off things we have to get done today. And before we know it, we're all taking out our notebook, the book we've been reading and getting right to it. Which was good for me since Alexis couldn't ask me anymore questions.

But once the class I had with Troy rolled around, I was back to being fine. Who cares if he didn't say hi to me. Or smile. Like why am I stressing about that?

So when I got to class and he was already sitting in his seat, I barely looked his way.

"Wanna get Subway at lunch?" Brooke leans in and asks me before class even begins, "I'm kinda craving it."

"Sure," I shrug, not really feeling Subway, but I'm not feeling anything really so why not? "I'll drive or what? I parked in the parking lot."

She laughed, knowing what I was getting at. Brooke is ALWAYS late, therefore, she never gets a spot in the parking lot and has to park around the school and it's far to walk to if you're just going off for lunch. The parking lot is definitely closer. So yeah, I know I'll be driving.

But then teacher came in before she could even answer. I knew the answer, though. I was definitely driving and I was completely okay with it.

Halfway through class, I got called into the counselor's office because she was going through each student this week and talking to them about college and seeing if we're on the right track to graduate and all that stuff. Boring things, really.

And as I was walking back to class, I see Troy standing by the bathrooms as if he's waiting for me.

He's not, though. Megan Turner walks up to him out of no where and starts talking to him, which immediately made me turn the other way.

Once I realized it was raining outside, which is dumb because we're in September, I rolled my eyes, turned back and took a deep breath before having to walk through the hallway straight past Troy and Megan. Megan, one of the most popular girls in school, who probably could get Troy in a heartbeat. Actually, I'm pretty sure she has gotten him. I don't know. I saw them once together at a party looking awfully cuddly, but that was over the summer and I don't know anything else about it. Nor do I want to. I just want to get back to class.

I look down at my phone so I don't have to make eye contact with him, but as I'm walking by, trying my hardest not to stare, I hear my name being called.

So of course I have to look up and over at him. If I don't, it'll see like I care or something. And I don't want him to know that.

"Wait up," he tells me before telling Megan that he has to go.

I'm a little confused by this whole thing and I think Megan is, too. She looked like she couldn't believe what was happening and in a way, neither could I. Why was he ditching her for me? And why was he even out here in the first place? But whatever. I don't really care.

He looks over at me before we start walking back and smiles at me, "hi."

"Hey," is all I say with little to no enthusiasm because quite frankly I'm a little annoyed.

What, he doesn't want his friends knowing he's talking to me? I mean, that's kind of the only explanation, really, because now he's talking to me and no one's around. And that makes me even more annoyed because I should have known but I got sucked into it. I'm such an idiot, really. He needs someone like Megan. Who's popular and beautiful. And probably fits more to his popular lifestyle. Ha. I can't believe I spent all night thinking about him.

We walk back to class, but he stops me before we reach it and grabs my arm, "hey, are you okay?"

Am I okay? Fuck. I'm making it obvious. "Yeah, I'm good."

"You sure?" he asks, "I mean, I don't know your thinking face, annoyed face or anything like that, but I don't know, I feel like something's a little off."

"No, I'm fine," I give him a small smile because I reallllly don't want to talk about it. I don't want him to get it out of me. I don't want him to know that I'm bummed I saw him with Megan. Because how crazy is that? We aren't anything. We hung out TWICE. "Honestly. I am. Just hungry."

He laughed a bit and I think he was letting it go. Thank God. "Okay, good."

Okay. Cool. I went to walk back, but he grabbed my arm and stopped me. "Hey, are you busy later? Maybe we can watch a movie or something."

A movie? On a Monday? I mean, I've done it. But that kind of sounds... date like. And I don't know if I'm up for that. I haven't decided. Especially now. After seeing him with Megan just now. Fuccck. What do I do? What do I say? "You don't have any homework?"

He looked at me for a second before cracking a smile, "I do, but I can do it after the movie."

Right. Of course. God. I'm such a goody two shoes. And embarrassing for saying that. WHO says that? Only me. "Oh, well, um, okay..."

Wait. I really said yes? Even after I decided I'm annoyed he was with Megan? Even after he kind of made it obvious he doesn't want to talk to me around his friends? What the fuck. I didn't mean to. I think I want to, but I know I shouldn't. But it's too late. Now that I've said yes, I think I kinda want to.

"Great," he tells me before we reach the classroom, "do you want to go after school or later tonight?"

"Oh, it doesn't matter," I tell him, "whatever's better for you."

He thinks about it but not for very long. "Maybe after. We can do our homework first."

I think he's mocking me a bit, but he's doing it in a non-douchey way that I don't even care. It's almost as if he found what I said to be cute or something but that could be wrong. I don't know. And I don't really care. All I know is that we're going to the movies. "Sounds good."

And then we walk back into class, together.

* * *

"What's up with you and Troy Bolton?" Brooke asks me as we're driving to Subway a bit later.

Fuck. I knew I was smiling when I was walking in there. And when have I ever smiled around Troy Bolton around her? Never. I haven't smiled around Troy Bolton up until three days ago. So it was definitely weird. And she was definitely in the right to ask, no doubt about it. I mean, I would've.

But I honestly don't really know what to say, to be honest. "Nothing's up."

"No, yeah, nothing's up, but I mean, you two walked back in together. It's as if you two were hanging out in the hall or something."

"We weren't," I quickly tell her as I come to a stop at a red light, "I don't know what he was doing out there, but I went to the counselor's and I don't know, we just ended up walking back in together."

She didn't buy it. I know she didn't. But she's my best friend. What do I expect? "Just kinda weird. The way he said bye to you after class, too. Like, what?"

Oh fuck. I forgot about that. Shit. I didn't think she saw or head. "He said bye. It's not that big of a deal"

"No, it wouldn't be," she puts down the visor and looks at herself in the mirror as she applies a bit of mascara, "but you've always found him slightly annoying and it's just a bit weird. It's almost if you two talk or something."

I have always said that. Yes. But he's actually not. Around me, anyway. And before, I didn't really have any business judging him. Sure, the way he walked around here with his posse and acting like he owned the place was annoying. And the way he would stroll into class late almost every single day for the first two weeks of school as if he was doing nothing wrong was annoying. And how he would get on the intercom sometimes and do the morning announcements was the worst. Like, why would he do that? No one cares about him that much.

And yeah, I have voiced it to Brooke and other people, but I don't know. It was never to the point where I hated him or anything like that.

I'm gonna have to tell her. She's my BEST friend. Of course I should tell her. I need to. "Okay, well, maybe that's because we sorta have been talking."

"What?" she puts a hold on putting on mascara and turns to me, "what the heck does that mean?"

"It means we've hung out," I shrug as I turn right on the street that takes us to Subway, "um, after that party on Friday and we went to lunch yesterday after my cousins soccer game. Only twice. It's not that big of a deal."

"What the fuck," Brooke laughs, "you're hanging out with Troy Bolton. Troy Bolton. The guy every single girl wants to date."

Ugh. Yeah. When she puts it like that, it makes me not want to hang out with him. For one, I don't want girls hating me. And two, every single wants to date him. Why wouldn't he want to date them as well? He has so many to choose from. Like, maybe he's just trying to make me the girl of the week or something.

I shouldn't over think it. Not now. Not before we hang out because I do want to hang out with him. "Yeah, and he's actually pretty cool. Easy to talk to."

"You like hanging out with him?" she asks as she looks back in the mirror to finish her makeup.

"Yeah, I've had fun," I shrug, "he's either masking it for the time being or I was all wrong about him. And sure, I've only hung out with him twice, but I don't know. He's not annoying. He's not annoying at all to me."

Brooke looked over at me, gave me a smile and then shook her head. "I can't believe you've been hanging out with Troy Bolton and you didn't even tell me!"

I felt a little bad I didn't tell her because she is my best friend in the whole world, but I just wanted to keep it to myself. I didn't want to make it a thing or anything because I didn't know what would happen. If anything would happen. But now that it'll be our third time hanging out in a span of four freaking days and she brought it up, I thought it would be the best opportunity to just tell her. And I'm glad it's out in the open now. I can ask her for advice.

"Am I making a stupid decision? I want her honest advice because sometimes I think I am.

"I mean, maybe," she shrugs, "I've never heard he was a douche or anything, but there's no doubt he hooks up with a lot of girls. He's Troy fucking Bolton. And he's beautiful. Why wouldn't he?"

Great. That's not what I want to hear. But it's probably the truth, I know that. I've just been trying to push that out of my mind for the past few days now.

I turn into the Subway parking lot and park in the closest spot, "you're right. I should stop. I have no business hanging out with him, but every time he asks me, yes comes out. Like, my mind tells me that maybe it's not a good idea and then yes just comes out. And I have no idea why."

"So, what, do you like him?" Brooke asks as we get out of the car.

"Shh," I say all paranoid even though she didn't say his name. It's just freaking me out that we're in public.

She rolls her eyes and goes over to the counter to order her sandwich. I decided I don't really want anything other than a soup so I cut in front of her, grab my soup and head over to an empty table while she prepares her sandwich.

5 minutes later, she's sitting in front of me and I know she wants an answer to the question she asked. But the truth is... I don't know. I have NO idea.

"It's weird," I tell her, getting totally honest with her about this. I need to talk to someone about it. I can't keep it to myself. I'd go crazy. "Like, I don't really know enough to like him or not, but I don't know... it's, like, I want to be around him. I want to hang out with him. He's actually pretty cool. Nice. And easy to talk to and it's just weird, B. It's so freaking weird."

"It definitely is weird," she laughs, "I never would have guessed you two. But I mean, you're both hot. It totally makes sense."

"But it doesn't at the same time. I'm back and forth about whether or not it's this big prank or something," I take a bite of my soup, "like, what business does Troy Bolton have being interested in me? Wanting to hang out with me, you know? It's weird."

Brooke looked at me as if I'm being ridiculous and shook her head as she took a bite of her sandwich, "no. Don't even say that. What business does Troy have hanging out with you as a prank? That's dumb. And so movie-like."

Yeah, maybe! But in what world have Troy and I talked before? NEVER. "B, we weren't even friends. He asked me to hang out before even talking to me."

"He's probably basing it off attraction then," she shrugs, "which is okay. That's how people start dating."

"Whoa, no, slow it down," I don't want to think about dating him. Too stressful. Too... I don't know. I just don't. "No. It's just weird, B. We've been going to school together now for four years and I mean, he's never talked to me before. Like a real conversation. And then all of a sudden, he's asking me to hang out and shit and I'm over here falling for it."

"I just don't think Troy's like that," she takes another bite, "sure, he's popular and girls throw themselves at him and he doesn't ever have girlfriends or whatever, but he was in my history class last year and he was always nice to me. The one thing I've never heard is that he's an asshole."

That's true. I've never heard that either. Entitled, yes. Cocky, mhm. But never an asshole. No one's ever said he was mean.

And okay, maybe he doesn't have ulterior motives, but still... could it ever really work? We come from different worlds. "I think we're just different, but it's weird. He asks me to hang out and I'm just, like, yes. I did that three times now."

"Well, he is hot so I don't blame ya," Brooke laughs, "seriously, though, it is weird, yes, but I don't think it's anything bad at all. Give it a shot..."

"You think? You really think if Troy keeps asking me to hang out, I should hang out with him?"

"Yeah, why not?" she shrugs, "Look, you and Andrew were together for, like, all of high school basically. I know you loved him, but it's not everlasting love. And you know that. Why not have some fun? I know you're not that kind of girl, but it's all just happening... Troy asking you to hang out and stuff. Just give it a try. See where things go. Nothing serious, you know?"

I can't do that. No. No casual things for me. I don't know anything but to be in a relationship. To be faithful and all that shit. I am a girlfriend type of girl.

And if Troy Bolton is just looking for fun, then I am not his girl. "I'll see how things go today. We're going to the movies."

"Movies on a Monday?" she looked surprised about it, "wow, he couldn't wait until Friday to ask you out?"

"I don't think it's a big deal. Maybe he just really wants to see a movie today or something," I try to brush it off as if it's no big deal. I mean, I hung out with Andrew all the time, which of course included weekdays. There's no rule you can only hang out on weekends. Ha. "It's a totally normal thing."

And I hated it. I hated how I was thinking about this, but I want this day to hurry up and end.

I want to hang out with Troy Bolton.


	10. Chapter 10: Troy

Sunday afternoon, I got home and thought about what Grant said and I hated it.

I hated how he got in my head and made me realize that I should probably stay away from Gabriella. How she is too good for me and other guys probably have more to offer her than me. But seeing her in the hall today after I went to the bathroom, I couldn't stay away.

And having Megan in front of me telling me that she would love to talk to me about everything, it just, it set me off. It made me ask her to hang out.

I couldn't tell if she was upset I was talking to Megan, but she said yes, so I assume no? Right? Because I mean, Megan showed up, like, 20 seconds before Gabriella walked by. I came out of the bathroom right when Megan came out of a classroom and she saw me then stopped me and I literally said nothing to her other than I couldn't talk right now. And then I chased down Gabriella to ask her to hang out.

And now, we're sitting in her backyard, it's close to 8 and we're finishing up some homework that I might have asked for help with.

But I didn't need the help. I totally got the chapter in math. I just didn't want to stop hanging out with her. Tomorrow, I might totally change my mind and try to stay away from her, but I was already hanging out with her today, so why not make it last and drag it out a bit?

"What'd you get for number 7?"

"What?" I snap out of my thoughts as soon as she speaks, "sorry."

She smiled as she pushed some hair out of her face and shook her head, "no, it's okay, I just asked what you got for number 7."

Right. Number 7. I haven't done it yet. Fuck. I looked down, and thanked God that it was such an easy question to me. I actually really got this chapter in math and I was able to come up with an answer in seconds. "Oh, I got 4. What'd you get?"

"Yeah, four," she said, writing something down, "so you're getting it? Mrs. Pearce could be all over the place with her teaching, it's confusing sometimes."

"I know, definitely, but math kind of just comes to me," I then realized I told her I needed help with this chapter so fuck. I think I just blew my cover. Great Bolton. "Except I'm having a bit of difficulty with this one."

She looked like she bought it so good enough for me. I mean, I'm lying about fucking math. I must want to hang out with her badly if I'm willing to make myself look even dumber than she probably thinks I am. Ha. I'm not dumb. I'm not dumb at all. I'm just lazy. I care more about other things. And that's why I get C's and B's. Not A's. But I definitely could if I applied myself. I know I can.

After a few more problems, she closed her book and pushed it off to the side before grabbing her water.

And then I hurried up and finished because I'm sure she wants me out of her house. It's a school night. She probably has to shower and shit.

"Thanks for the help," I close the book and put my pencil back in my backpack, "I know it's probably the last thing you wanted to do."

"I love helping people," she says sweetly and she's definitely not making this easy on me. She's so kind. Why wouldn't I want to hang out with her? Fuck. Gabriella. Do something that makes me want to stay away. Dammit. "It was no problem."

"I'll keep that in mind," I say, like a fucking creep probably.

She gets up, I get up, grab my book and fling my backpack over my shoulder and slowly walked to her side gate.

But she looks a bit confused. So I stop, turn to her and ask what's wrong. And she just shrugs, "No, nothing, but um, you can use the front door if you want."

Right. Um. I know her parents aren't home. They're at some dinner. But still. Going out the side gate just seems faster. My car's closer to it. It's like, right there, I can see it from where I'm standing and her front door is far. So uh. I don't know what to do.

"Oh, okay," is what I say before I followed her in.

She put her books down on the table and then led me to the front door.

The Montez's have a really nice house. It's very traditional, very homey and it just looks like the perfect family home. Like they have everything they want.

And then as we're standing there, in that awkward position whether how we say bye to each other, all I can think about is kissing her. I want to kiss her. So badly. But I know it's probably not something she's expecting or necessarily wants right now.

So I don't.

It takes a lot to stop me, but I do. I smile at her, say thanks again for hanging out with a loser like me, okay, not those words, but I do.

And then I walked off her porch, down the steps and got in my car.

She closes the door behind her and I sit in my car for a minute and think about my day. About her. About everything.

I shouldn't. I shouldn't hang out with her. She wants to go off to Stanford and become a fucking doctor. A FREAKING DOCTOR. And all I'm thinking about right now is soccer. And the party Matt's throwing next week for his birthday. Like, what the fuck? She has so much going for her and I don't.

But I just can't help the way I feel when I'm around her. I haven't even kissed her yet, I hung out with her THREE times now and I'm already sucked in.

How is that possible? How can this possibly be happening? Only in movies do people like someone this fast. Right?

I guess not. Because here I am, wanting to do everything with her. Dates, taking her places, cuddling up on the couch watching movies and shit. And that's never happened to me before. I've never had that. The closest thing I had to that was with Megan. We cuddled on the couch once and watched a movie but ended up making out. It never felt like anything serious, though. Obviously it wasn't. She fucked some other guy or whatever.

Fuck. When did my life become like this? When did it get so complicated?

I miss her already and that's fucking annoying.

* * *

"Dude, talk to me," Matt tells me as he passes me the basketball and stands around waiting for me to shoot, "what's going on with Montez?"

Right. Gabriella.

I haven't told him anything. Sunday, I left storming out and yesterday, well, I hung out with her. I didn't really see him. And now, we're at his house, playing some ball and he probably wants to know everything. He is my best friend, after all. He does deserve to know.

I shoot the ball, miss and Matt goes and rebounds it as I try to find the words to say. "She's cool."

He laughed, "she's cool? That's all you're fucking giving me?"

"Well, I don't know, man. I don't. I don't think anything's going on, we haven't kissed or anything, but I mean, I want to. She's cool as hell. And nice."

"That's what I hear," he shoots the ball, makes it and then tosses it to me, "don't really know her well, but she's hot."

She's beautiful. I don't think there's one guy that doesn't think that, but she's one of those girls that is, like, naturally beautiful. Not done up like half of the other girls at school or in some attention grabbing outfits so she tends to fly under the radar. And she's not out there like them.

And I think that's why I'm interested. "We've hung out a few times. It's nothing, really. But I'm into it."

"Yeah?" Matt looks a bit surprised, "you wanna date her?"

"Probably shouldn't," I laugh as I shoot the ball, "she's off to Stanford, I'm waiting for any fucking school to accept me. And she's like one of those girls that you definitely don't want to mess things up with, you know? The kind of girl you settle down with, even though she's still really young."

Matt laughs and shakes his head, "dude, you're way too into this girl if you're thinking about that."

I don't want to admit that because I've hung out with her THREE fucking times. And sure, those three times consisted of nothing but talking for a couple of hours so I did find out a lot, but still. It's weird. I shouldn't feel like this.

"No, shut up, I'm not. I just... she's just normal. Like a normal, down to earth girl. And that just sucks me in."

"Is that why you were so worked up the other day and left Jasons?" he asks me.

"Ya," I shoot the ball, miss as usual and go retrieve it, "he's an asshole. And okay, maybe what he said was true, but I didn't want to sit there and hear him talk about her as if she was... I don't know."

Matt stands there, holding the ball and I'm waiting for him to shoot it, but he doesn't. He's just looking at me. "Dude, just go for her. You so like her."

Fuck. I shouldn't. I really, really shouldn't. But now that I got to talk to her, see a little about what she's about, I can't stay away. I don't want to stay away even though I probably SHOULD stay away. It's so fucking annoying. "You honestly think it'll end out good? I mean, look at fucking Megan."

"Well, that was your bad. First of all, it's Megan. Second of all, you guys didn't put a title on it."

"Yeah, but that didn't mean she could go around fucking guys. I didn't do that shit. I was faithful, I was loyal even if people think otherwise. We didn't have an open relationship. I was all in. And she fucking blew it."

Matt shook his head. He never liked Megan. H always thought she was just that girl who wanted to date the popular guy because she was popular so she had to. And I think he was right. I should have listened to him. But that's too late now. "Gabriella's a nice girl. You really have to think about it before you do anything. She had a boyfriend for two years. She's a relationship girl. And you've never really had one of those."

Nope. I've never really had a relationship. Which whatever. I'm 18 in a month. I'm fucking young. But still. She has that on me. She's been in a relationship. And she's been in one for two fucking years. That's a long ass time.

"Whatever. I can't think about this right now. It stresses me out. Let's just play some ball."

But I was definitely still thinking about her. Ugh.


	11. Chapter 11: Gabriella

Thank God, it's Friday. I enjoy school, but I definitely enjoy the weekend more.

And this weekend's going to be a good one.

Brooke, Alexis, our other friend Taylor and I are heading to Los Angeles for a Carrie Underwood concert and we're spending the weekend there. I couldn't be more excited about it. My favorite friends. And my favorite singer, probably ever. Um. YES.

It would top off the good week I was having, too. I got an A on a test I thought I was for sure going to fail dramatically. I hung out with Troy on Monday, which was fun. A lot of fun, actually. And we talked here and there throughout the week. These boots I've been wanting forever were finally back in stock and in my size which was amazing news. AND my parents just booked my graduation trip to the Dominican Republic. HELL YA.

"Do you have any idea what you're wearing tomorrow?" Taylor asks as we're walking out of class to our cars.

"No idea," I adjust my purse so it doesn't slip off, "I'll probably figure it out tonight or something."

"Yeah, text me it. I don't want to be coordinated or anything like that. I hate going to concerts and seeing girls all wearing the same outfit or basically the same thing. It's really weird," she laughs as she looks for her keys.

Oh, totally. Fuck no. We're not wearing the same thing. "Yeah, definitely. Brooke wants to leave at 11 or something like that, so we can settle in, grab some dinner before and stuff. Do you have a game tomorrow?"

She nodded as we walked out of the school, "yeah, but it's at 8:30, so I should be done around that time. Maybe we can leave at 12?"

"Anything's fine with me," I also search for my keys in my purse, which somehow always get lost in there. SO ANNOYING. "It's only like 2 and a half hours and I doubt there'll be traffic in the middle of the day so we'll be good. We could probably even leave around 2, but Brooke wouldn't want that."

"No, she wouldn't," Taylor laughs and then stops walking, "okay, well I'm this way, but text me later, k?"

"Okay, I will. Hopefully I'll find something."

She rolled her eyes knowing full well I'll find something to wear and laughed, "bye."

I walked the opposite way of her to the parking lot and less than a minute later, I heard my name being called. And I knew exactly who it was. Ahhh.

Troy Bolton was walking up to me, his soccer bag in hand and a book in the other looking hotter than usual. How in the world is that possible? I don't know, but he's definitely doing it. He looks so hot, I couldn't believe it.

"Hey," he smiles at me, "what's up?"

"Nothing," I tell him, like I've been telling him the past few days we've been walking to my car.

Except this time, he's a little later than he usually is. Usually, as we get out of class, Taylor goes the opposite way, but today, she walked with me and then just went around the school to her car instead of through the school. And for the past few days, Troy and I would meet at the front of the school and he'd walk me to my car as we talked about our day, what we're doing, etc. And it was nice. It was a five minute walk of just talking.

And today, it's cut a little shorter. It'll probably be a three minute walk, but whatever. I'll take what I can get.

"So what're you up to this weekend?" he asks, which I think nothing of. I mean, it is Friday. He's just making conversation. Everyone asks this on a Friday.

"I'm actually going to LA for the weekend with some friends, we're seeing Carrie Underwood."

"Oh, so you're not going to be here tomorrow?" he asks, sort of stopping me in my tracks in the middle of the parking lot.

Ummm. No. I'm not. "No."

I swear, he looks a bit bummed about it. But I'm pushing that out of my mind right now. Was he going to ask me to hang tomorrow? I want to keep walking because I do need to get home, but he's just standing there, so it gives me no option but to stand there as well, unless I want to ditch him.

And then he speaks up, "Are you free tonight then?"

Tonight? Yes. I'm free. Excepting having to pack and figure out what I'm going to wear. But I'm free. "Yeah."

"You want to go out to dinner or something?" It seems like he's asking me out on a date, but I'm not going to jump to conclusions. "I've been wanting to try out that new seafood restaurant that opened up at the Gaslamp District. You've heard of it?"

Uh yeah, I have. And it's supposed to be incredibly nice. And expensive. And what the fuck. He wants to take ME there? "Yeah, I heard it's really good."

He smiled and nodded as he unzipped his soccer bag and took his keys out, "yeah, I've been wanting to try it. You wanna go?"

I want to say yes, I really, really do. But now this seems like a date and I honestly don't know if I'm ready for that... with him. Before it was so casual, and now, I'm going to have to dress up and shit and it's just going to feel like a date. I haven't been on a first date. EVER. What the fuck. What do I say?

And of course, I find myself saying yes. It's like I can't say no to Troy Bolton.

"I'll pick you up at 7?"

"Okay," I push some hair behind my ear and smile.

He knows where I live, he has my number from the other day and now I'm free to walk away. So I do. He goes down another lane in the parking lot and I'm walking to my car by myself thinking about how I'm going on a date with Troy Bolton tonight.

I'M GOING ON A DATE WITH TROY BOLTON.

It has to be a date. A nice restaurant. Friday night. 7 PM. I mean... if it's not a date then what is it?

It's definitely a date. And I'm now extremely excited for it. Eeeek.

* * *

"No way," Troy shakes his head as he takes a piece of the cheesecake in front of us, "mine was totally more embarrassing."

"Okay, but you were 10. Who cares," I remind him. MY most embarrassing moment happened two years ago when I was a teenager. Uh. I think I win, for sure. There's no competition, "mine was definitely worse."

He laughed and shoved some cheesecake in his mouth before taking a sip of his water, "whatever you say."

I grabbed a piece as well and tried my best to savor every centimeter of it. It was SUCH good cheesecake and I wish I would have gotten my own. But I was full when he ordered it so I didn't think I'd have any. He insisted, though, and here I am, taking some, wishing I had my own slice. SO GOOD.

"Okay, sorry," I push away the cheesecake back to him, "I'm done."

"No, no, it's fine," he tells me, pushing it back my way, "finish it off. I'm done. I'm so full."

Fuck. I want to, but I don't actually want to say yes. So when he basically puts it in front of me, I'm so thankful because I didn't have to be in that awkward position. I was so happy. It's seriously so good. Best cheesecake I've ever had.

I thank him, finish it off, and then wash it down with my iced tea. Which was also the best iced tea I've ever had. This place was something else. So good.

The waitress came, dropped off the check, he immediately got it before I was able to look at it, took care of it and slid it off to the side.

He leaned forward a bit, gave me a smile and asked if I was ready to go. He put cash down so we didn't need to wait for his card or anything. I told him yes and a minute later, we we in his car, driving back to my house.

Normally, I think this would be kind of early for a date to end. It's 10. But he has a game at 8 and he needs to be there at 7 and it's 30 minutes away so it was fine. It was cool that he was dropping me off now. I appreciate his responsible ways.

"So, why'd you ask me out tonight?" I turn the dial down and ask him, something I know he probably wasn't expecting.

"What?" he laughs and glances over at me before coming to a complete stop at the red light, "why'd I ask you out tonight? I thought I made it quite obvious that I want to hang out with you. And that I like hanging out with you."

I shake my head. That's not what I want to know. I'm feeling ballsy tonight. "No. I mean, why. Why did you even start wanting to hang out with me?"

He looked over at me, gave me a weird look but followed it up with a smile, "I told you already, I just..."

"You just wanted to hang out," I repeat his words with an eye roll, "yes, you told me that. But I just don't believe it. If someone would have told me three weeks ago that I'd be hanging out with Troy Bolton, I wouldn't have believed them."

The light turned green so he let go of the brake, made his way through the intersection and chuckled. "Geez, we're not from completely different worlds."

No, I supposed we're not, but enough for it to be weird. "I just don't really get why you keep wanting to hang out with me, that's all."

At this point, we're 2 minutes away from my house so if it gets too awkward or too weird, I don't have to sit through it for long at all. I just... I wanted to get to the bottom of it. I wanted to know why all of a sudden, out of nowhere, he took notice in me. Why he wants to keep hanging out with me and stuff.

"You do remember that you had a boyfriend for two years, right?" he asks me.

Umm. Yes. What does that have to do with anything? "Yeah, so? What's your point?"

He looks over at me, not saying anything, our eyes lock, and then he focuses his attention back on the road, turning right at the next light. "You're single now. So my point is, you're single now and you're free to hang out with some guy that finds you insanely attractive."

Fuck. That's the first time he's told me that. I mean, I guess I could assume, but I didn't want to. And now, I have no idea what to say back. Shit.

"Like you paid any attention to me before we had a class together," whoa, I guess I'm going there tonight.

"No, you're right," he nods, "you're right. I didn't, really. I mean, not enough to be interested. But I definitely knew you were there. And I definitely still found you attractive then. It's just different now. I don't know."

Ugh. I guess that was enough. I don't know what I was searching for. His confession that this is all a prank? Or him telling me that he finds me absolutely beautiful and that's why he keeps asking me out. Didn't he sort of tell me that? I don't know. All I know is I'm dropping it. It was dumb.

And before I knew it, he was pulling up to my house and I was already unbuckling my seat belt. I think I made this an awkward ending to our date.

But he still got out and walked me to my door.

"There's nothing more to it other than the fact that I found you insanely attractive, I asked you to hang out, I liked hanging out with you and so I asked you to hang out again. You need to give yourself a little more credit, Gabriella. If this were some sick joke, I think my friends would pick someone else."

Ugh. I hate myself sometimes. Now I'm embarrassed about this. "Sorry."

He laughed and then pushed some hair out of my face and shrugged, "it's okay. But honestly, I asked you out tonight just because I wanted to and I hope that's enough of an answer for you."

"No, yeah, it is," I'll take it. I'll absolutely take it. It's actually the best answer. "and thank you. For tonight. The food was amazing. And I had fun."

"I had fun, too," he smiles at me, "thanks for coming out."

And now it's the part where we're probably supposed to kiss. And I so badly want him to kiss me. I know I do. And I mean, after everything's that been said, it's safe to assume he will, right? But I feel like it's taking forever. Why isn't he leaning in already, kissing the shit out of me? Ughhhh. His blue eyes are looking into mine and none of us are moving, leaning in or anything. So what? Do I have to do it? Am I really going to take matters into my own hands right now? I don't want to be that girl. I want it to be a romantic moment led by him. NOW.

And then a small smile appears on his face as he's inching forward, "you know I'm about to kiss you now."

"I wish you would hurry up and just do it," is what comes out of my stupid mouth. SO MUCH FOR A ROMANTIC MOMENT.

But he leaned forward, cupped my face with his hands, leaned down and kissed me.

And sparks flew. I swear.

Sparks are flying between us and I don't think I can really breathe right now, but that's okay. Because this is too good. He moves one hand from my cheek to the back of my head and I grab his waist, needing to hold onto something.

And little by little, it gets more passionate, more intense, everything you could want in a first kiss. Which meant no tongue. And I'm so glad. We're not making out, we're just kissing... intensely. And I didn't want him to stop. I didn't want to stop. I wanted to stand here and keep kissing him.

But I knew I couldn't. We had to break apart at some point and we did. And I think I was the one to break it apart.

"Goodnight," is all he tells me before leaning in one more time and giving me one last kiss.

I didn't even have chance to say goodbye, it all happened so fast. Before I knew it, he was walking away and over to his car.

Fucccck. This isn't good. But it feels good.


	12. Chapter 12: Troy

This is so stupid. Like, so stupid.

How is it possible to feel SO much in one kiss? Two kisses? I mean, is that actually possible?

I've kissed my fair share of girls and none have ever felt like Gabriella. Zero. Absolutely not one has given me the same feeling she gave me just now and it's scaring the hell out of me. What does it mean? Why am I feeling like all I want to do is run back over there and never leave her side?

THAT'S CRAZY.

It's absolutely crazy and it's making my head spin. I should be okay. I should be happy we kissed and that's that.

But all I keep thinking about is this electric feeling I got. My heart was racing. And it was, like... happy. My heart was happy? That's fucking weird.

True, though, I think. So true. Gabriella makes me happy.

And it's absolutely crazy because I've only been talking to her for a fucking week. A WEEK. Last Friday was the first time we hung out together and this Friday we went on a date together. So a week. A week and this girl's already got me feeling like she's the only one I want to kiss.

I had to shake it off. I can't be feeling this much, this early. No. It was a recipe for disaster.

10 minutes later, I was back at home and in the kitchen looking for something to drink in the fridge but there was absolutely nothing.

"What are you doing?"

Fuuuck. That scared me. "Nothing, just looking for something to drink."

My mom turned on the light and there she was, in her pajamas, looking all nice and cozy, "I went to Costco earlier and got some green teas and gatorades, they're in the pantry if you want that."

Oh, right on. I can go for a gatorade right now. "Thanks," I close the fridge and walk over to the pantry.

"So, where were you? You look a little overdressed for a party."

Ha. I do. But the restaurant was nice so I couldn't go in jeans and an old t shirt. But by no means was I dressed up. "I just went out to dinner."

My mom nodded as she made her way over to the counter and took a seat, "oh that's nice. Who'd you go to dinner with?"

I tell my mom everything. But lately, I've just been in this funk. I hardly like being home. I try to stay away from my parents at all costs and it's all because of fucking college. I don't want to talk about it. I don't want to think about it. And that's all they want to talk bout. That's all they care about right now. And it's fucking embarrassing because my brother, 2 years older, is off at USC studying to become a lawyer.

And here I am, pulling C's and B's.

I'm definitely the dumb child and although, they love that I play soccer, my dad is absolutely in love with the game, it's just... weird. I feel like I'm failing them in so many ways so the less I'm home, the better I feel. I just don't want to talk about anything with them which I know will be about college.

"This girl," is all I say and I know I'm being an asshole to my mom. So when I look up at her and her hazel eyes look sad, I give in. "Her name's Gabriella."

"Gabriella," she repeats with a small smile, "do I know her?"

I shake my head, "I don't think so. She goes to my school. She's cool."

My mom looks like she's happy I'm giving her something to work with. Because honestly, this is the first time in a couple of weeks that I've told her anything about my life. If I have talked to her, it's shallow shit. Things I need. Things about soccer. That kind of stuff. Never anything personal.

"Cool enough for you to finally settle down?"

"Mom, I'm, like, 18 years old. I'm not going to be settling down for a looooong time."

"No, no, that's not what I meant," she shakes her head, "I just... I want to see you with a girlfriend. Someone you can bring home and she can have dinner with us and stuff. That one girl that can make you happy and piss you off. You know... I want that for you."

I chuckled a bit. Piss me off? My mom's strange, but I love her. "It's too early to tell, mom, but she is cool. And not like any other girl I've met."

She looked intrigued, but I don't know if I can give her anymore. I don't want to give her anymore. I want to keep this to myself for a little bit longer. Who knows if anything will actually come of it. So I don't need my mom in my ear telling me shit about it.

"You're a good guy, Troy, you are," she tells me as she gets up off her chair, "don't get caught up in all the high school shit when it comes to girls."

I know what she means by that so I just smile and nod as she walks out of the kitchen.

And I just stand there, hoping to God that I don't blow this.

* * *

"Yo totally blew it today. I mean, you had it. You could have scored, but you passed the fucking ball to that guy!"

I rolled my eyes and grabbed the salt to sprinkle it over my eggs benedict. I know. I know I fucked up. "Whatever, Bri, we still won."

She laughed as she cut her pancake into little pieces, "yeah, but you could have won 2-0, which is so much better than 1-0, but whatever. I'm going to shut up now since I don't play the game so I have no idea what it feels like being on the field, in the game."

"Yeah, it's probably best for you to do that."

She glared at me as she shoved her pancake in her mouth, "shut up."

Briana Michelson is my sister from another mister. Or whatever that saying is. She's the sister I've never had. My best friend. All in one. And there's nothing romantic going on- _at all._ Not now. Not ever. No. We are WAAAAY too good of friends to even think that way. I've known her since I was 7 years old. There was no way anything was ever going to happen. And she feels the exact same way. We're just friends. Brother and sister.

She's really the only friend I have that's a girl. I don't have many friends that are girls. I mean, I do, but not ones I really hang out with one on one.

"So are you going to tell me about that date you went on or what?" she asks as she reaches for her iced tea.

"What?" I look up, surprised that she knows, "how do you..."

"Your mom told me," she cut me off, "this morning. She told me you went on a date with this girl and she's hoping it's a good thing and that hopefully she'll meet her soon and blah blah blah. All I could think about was how I was mad you didn't even tell me about it. So I barely paid attention to what she said."

Ugh. My mom. I mean, it's just Briana, I would eventually tell her, but I just wanted to keep this to myself for a bit. "Yeah, I went on a date."

She looked at me as if she wanted to kill me or something. And I didn't get it. I'm telling her right now! And she still looks pissed. "Who is this girl and why haven't you told me anything about it?"

"Because I just started talking to her, Bri. Literally. Like a week ago. And I don't know. It all kind of happened so fast."

"You like her?" she looks up at me with a smile.

I shrug. I honestly don't know if I like her. I don't not like her, though. I just, it means something to say you like her. "Well, I know that I'm definitely into her. I've really only hung out with her a couple times, but I can definitely see that happening. I mean, yeah."

Bri looked like she wanted to jump over the table and give me a big hug or something, but then her smiled faded, "please don't tell me this is another Megan situation because I remember having this talk then as well."

"No, no," I shake my head, "no. Megan and Gabriella are totally different. Way different. Gabriella's not some whore who fucks anyone."

"Troy," her face softens, probably feeling a bit bad for Megan, but whatever.

Okay, yeah, it was harsh. "Sorry, but no. They're different. I know they're different. And that's why I'm insanely attracted to her. She's just... she's a good girl. She's nice. She's beautiful. And smart. And I feel like she takes no bullshit and it's nice. It's very refreshing."

Bri smiled as she pushed her empty plate to the side so the waitress could clear it, "Well, I'm glad. I'm glad. I just hope you don't mess it up."

"What does that even mean?" I tell her, hearing my mother's word as well, "I've never cheated on anyone even though I've technically never had a girlfriend. I was all in with Megan. And so I don't get it."

"No, no, I'm not talking about that, I just... you go to school, you hang out with friends, you party, you play soccer. That's what you do. That's your life. And when you have a girlfriend, you're going to need to change that a bit. They're not going to want you to go to parties all the time. They're going to want to stay in and snuggle on the couch and watch movies and eat pizza and that shit. And I just... you want that?"

Kind of. I don't know. I'm not over partying, but I don't need it to survive. I really don't. It's just fun. It's fun to hang around friends and drink a beer on Friday night. "All I know is that there's no one else I'm thinking about other than Gabriella. And she's the only one I want to hang out with."

Briana smiled, like she was proud of me or something. "Good. I'm glad. And I hope it works out."

I hope it works out, too.

* * *

"Dude, you drinking?" Matt asks me as he hands me a beer, but I rebut it.

I wasn't drinking. I'm driving and I'm not really in the mood to drink, to be honest. "Nah, man, I'm good. Not tonight."

He shrugs, brings the beer back to him, opens it and takes a chug of it, "dude, you just missed the most epic fight. Dan Matthers and Chris Wicks were going at it. Some football thing, but it got pretty intense. Chris had to end up leaving because well, Dan and Leo are best friends, but it was insane."

Bleh. I wouldn't care to see that so I'm glad I wasn't here for it. "Whoa, that's crazy."

I had nothing other to say than that so I said it and then I made my way over to my friends who were in an intense game of beer pong and if you're not drinking at these parties then it's kind of boring. Not that you need drinking to have fun. But everyone else is drinking so if you're one of the only sober ones, it's lame. You can't have a normal conversation with anyone.

"Troy," I hear someone call my name.

I turn around and am face to face with Whitney Carr, a cheerleader from my school. "Oh, hey, Whit."

She smiles as she's holding on to a red cup, pushing her hair out of her face, "I just wanted to tell you good game today. I would have told you afterward, but you left pretty suddenly, I didn't have a chance to."

"What?" She was at my game today? "Oh, you were at the game this morning?"

"Yeah," she smiles, taking a drink, "yeah, my friends boyfriend plays the team you were playing. I thought you saw me walking out."

Um. No. I didn't. Which is weird. Whitney Carr is hot. I've always thought this. And we've never hooked up. She had a boyfriend for a year, but he didn't go to our school so it was as if she didn't. I noticed her. She was in my classes, but nothing just ever happened.

But now I'm getting the vibe she kind of wants to hook up. I mean, she's all smiley, she's standing here with a drink and telling me good game.

"Oh, well, thanks," I try not to mention that I, in fact, did not see her.

"Did you just get here?"

I nod as I look over at my buddies who are still playing an intense game of beer pong. And then I look back at her and she's just standing there. I think she wants me to say something else, something more, but I got nothing. I don't know what to say to her. I don't really want to say anything to her, to be honest because well, I have the feeling she wants more and I... don't. I don't think I do. No. I know I don't.

Because all I could think about is Gabriella. And how great of a time we had last night. And how I can't wait to see her on Monday.

"Well, I'm gonna go get another drink, but I'll see you later."

"Yeah, okay," I tell Whit feeling a bit bad about how I was being short with her.

But as hot as she was, as much as I think she'd be a really good kisser, I just... I couldn't. I didn't want to. And that's definitely a first which freaks me the fuck out. A little bit of me thought about it, but if that ever got back to Gabriella, or if it was talked about, I think my chances with her would be done. There's no way I'm taking that risk. Nope. Not after the night we had the other day. Gabriella over Whitney. Definitely.

As she walked away, I went back to watching this beer pong game and once they were all done, we all made our way towards the bar where they were getting themselves another drink. Ugh.

And as I turned around, I saw Grant walking in with some of his boys. Fuuuck. I hate him.

He went around saying hi to some people, girls, guys, everyone and I just wanted to wipe off that stupid smile on his face. I hated how we would show up to the same parties. I hated it. And it would always make me mad, but now, after knowing he went out with Gabriella, and what he said to me about her, I just, I can't stand it. I want to go over there and punch him. I can't ignore him like I used to do. But I'm going to have to. I want to ignore him.

But before I could even make my way inside where some of my other friends were, Grant came up to me.

"Bolton," he says, which I don't know why. We're not fucking friends.

"Hey," is all I say before trying to get out of his sight.

He laughs, his stupid laugh, and reaches for a beer that's on the bar, "you're running away again because you're that insecure to be around me?"

Fuck. don't say anything, Bolton. Don't say anything. He just wants a reaction out of you and that's what you're going to give him if you say anything at all. So just walk away. Walk away now. And ignore him. He doesn't matter. He's just jealous that he no longer has Gabriella.

Unless... he was the one that broke it off with her and she was actually bummed about it? Fuuuuck. I want to know. I need to know now.

"Grant, I'm not in the mood," I tell her, trying to push my way around him.

But he blocks me, "it's like you want everything that's clearly mine, but you're not going to have it. My position, my club team, and now Gabriella. Gabriella, who I'm eventually going to have, you know that, right? Because I seriously doubt she's head over heels... for you."

God, I hate him so much. How can anyone stand him? Like even as a friend? He's obnoxious AS FUCK. And I really, really just want to punch him.

I don't, though. I settled for a strong shove ans walk the fuck out of there as he continues to laugh.

It's dejavu. I'm leaving with him laughing there. And I'm heading to my car, angry and upset. Mad that's he kind of got to me... again. Fuck. Gabriella, she, she makes me feel good. She's smart, beautiful and put together and I'm just not. And his words are just echoing in my mind again. She's too good. She's probably not head over heels for me. And I'm not for her, either, but I know that she's definitely someone I want to be head over heel for.

And she's probably at her concert now having the time of her life, not thinking about me at all.

Of course she's not thinking about me, she hasn't texted me back all night.

I also hate how not only are Grant's words getting to me, but how they might be true. I mean, Gabriella did kiss me back and it looked like she enjoyed it, but everything can change as fast as it happens. You never know.

And I'm just... ugh. Fuck Giant. Fuck him.

Gabriella is too good for me. I know that. He knows that. Everyone else knows that.


	13. Chapter 13: Gabriella

Troy wasn't at school yesterday, which kind of bummed me out.

I wanted to see him. I wanted him to walk me to my car after school in hopes of kissing again. In hopes of him asking me if I wanted to grab something to eat or whatever. I don't know. Anything. I just wanted him to talk to me.

But since he wasn't, today when we made our way out of class, I thought for sure we would talk or something, but he left so fast, it was almost, like, he was avoiding me. He didn't look my way at all. He walked right out and rushed to the parking lot for lunch.

And here I am, feeling like a fucking idiot.

I'm not sure what I could've done. I haven't seen him! And he texted me this weekend. Saturday, we were texting and everything seemed fine.

Whatever, though. I wasn't going to sweat it. Or stress about it.

It was the same after school. He was nowhere to be seen and he's always there. Before we started talking, he was there. Three weeks ago, I would see him leaving at the same time I would be leaving. And now, he's not here. He's nowhere to be found. And it was annoying. And weird.

"Let's go grab some food," Brooke suggests as I get to my car. She's standing there waiting for me since we carpooled to school together this morning.

"Sure," I unlocked it, threw my stuff in the back and then got inside, "where?"

She shrugged, "anything. I'm starving. I was craving some sushi earlier, but I'm not sure if I am anymore. Maybe some Mexican food? Or Chinese food? Ahh, I don't really know. I can't decide. You pick."

"I laughed. It was always such a hard decision for her. "Sushi."

"Sushi," she repeats with a smile as she buckles up.

And then we were off to eat sushi, which put me in a better mood. Sushi and my best friend. How can you not be happy with that combo?

Until I got home, laid in bed and had time to think about everything... I mean, if he didn't feel anything when we kissed, why the fuck would he text me on Saturday and tell me he wants to hang out when I come back. I didn't get it. I didn't understand it. And frankly, it's kinda pissing me off. I didn't do anything. I did absolutely nothing to get the cold shoulder from him I don't think.

No, I know I did nothing.

Unless... did he? Did he do something that he knows I probably wouldn't approve of? Like hook up with someone on Saturday at a party?

Ugh. Probably. And now it's over. Well, it wasn't anything to being with so technically I can't get mad at it. But I could be annoyed. Fuck no. I don't want a guy who can have a great night with me but then turn around and hook up with some girl at a party. Nope. No, thank you. I don't have time for that.

"Babe, dinner's ready," my mom peaks her head into my room.

Oops. I kind of already ate. And then I went to Brook's to do homework. "I'm not hungry."

She looks at me weirdly. I'm always hungry at this time. "Did you go out to eat with your friends or something?"

Fuck. "Yeah, sorry, Brooke wanted sushi and you know I can't say no to sushi. But I'll have some of your food a little bit later or something."

"Okay," my mom tells me and I think she's about to leave, but she turns around, "are you okay, mija?"

Let's see. This guy she doesn't know I've been hanging out with is suddenly giving me the cold shoulder and I'm sitting here trying to figure it out. And on top of that, I feel a cold coming on. I HATE COLDS. I hate being sick. So no, I'm actually not that okay, but I really don't want to get into it.

I smile at her and nod, "yeah, I'm okay."

She doesn't buy it. I know she doesn't. "Just tell me. Maybe I can help you."

So I do. I tell her everything from beginning to end. Who this guy is, how beautiful he is, how we started talking, how our first date went and she just sat there and listened to the whole thing like the best mom she is. Seriously, I have the best mom.

"Boys will be boys," she shakes her head, "you did nothing. They just always take a longer time to come around. Trust me."

"But he's not shy, mom. He's not shy at all. And I just can't figure out why he would avoid me. I know he's avoiding me. And if he's not avoiding me, why couldn't he tell me hi in class today? Or even text me?"

My mom sighs as she places her hand on my knee, a gesture of comfort, "So why don't you talk to him? Just straight up ask him. You're not shy."

I'm not, but I'm afraid of the answer. I had SUCH a good time. And that kiss... that kiss was electrifying. It's embarrassing to admit, but God, he just makes me feel so good. And I wasn't ready for that to be over yet. "I guess I'll just wait it out."

"You shouldn't," she gets up, "dinner's going to get cold, but I'll come back, okay? Or come down whenever you're ready to eat."

I nod, thank her and tell her I love her.

And once she's gone, I lay back in bed and just lie there for hours.

* * *

It's Friday. And I'm sick.

I've been sick for the past two days and actually, I wasn't at school. I missed Wednesday and Thursday, but now I'm back and it's still the fucking same.

And I'm not talking about the way I'm feeling, I'm talking about being ignored by Troy Bolton.

At this point, I don't even want to think about it. I mean, we had an amazing kiss, and then nothing. No contact. He didn't even text me asking why I was gone for TWO days. It's, like, he doesn't even care. And okay, I'm not asking him to care for me and bring soup and shit because he doesn't owe me that or anything. We've been on ONE date. But it would be nice if he would just text me and ask where I'm at, if I'm okay.

But nope. Nothing. Zero. Zilch. And it pisses me off.

He's currently behind me in class and I'm trying my hardest to not turn back and give him the dirtiest look.

Luckily, my teacher is making it easy on me since she's filling the overhead with notes upon notes. So I'm sitting here, taking as many notes as I can until the bell rings. And then I quickly gather my things and head out to meet Alexis and my friend Sasha for some lunch while Brooke goes with Taylor.

And as I'm leaving, I feel someone grab my arm and stop me in my tracks.

Troy. He's holding on to me.

"What?" I ask him, turning around, still pissed off at him.

He looked kind of taken aback, but what did he expect? For me to kiss him? Be all cheery? "No, nothing, I just... how are you?"

How am I? Well, actually, besides him being an asshole and not texting me or having any sort of contact with me since Friday after our amazing date, I'm fine. I am. School's going good. I'm healthy. Can't complain. So I tell him I'm fine. "I'm fine."

"That's good." It seems like he doesn't really know what to say, which I love. I love that he maybe feels guilty and bad about it. "You heading out for lunch?"

"Yeah," is all I tell him before I keep walking.

And he's obviously caught on that I'm annoyed with him. I know he has. He's not dumb. So he follows. "I'm sorry."

That kind of stops me. He's apologizing. Which is nice. But I'm still mad at him. I'm still annoyed that he would let days pass by without talking to me after our, what I thought to be, amazing date. And he straight up ignored me on Tuesday.

"It's just been a hectic week," he explains, "I've had three days of practice, Monday, I was sick. And I just, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I haven't talked to you."

Fuuuuck. Those blue eyes are sucking me in. Even though I'm supposed to be angry. I'm just... I'm not as angry as I should be. Because I know he has had back to back practices of conditioning because I mean, well my cousin is on his team. I know he had a close to two hour practice last night, too. So yeah, for sure soccer has kept him busy. And as for Tuesday, him ignoring me... well, I don't know. Now that I'm in front of him and he's apologizing, everything kind of just seems stupid. Like, I don't have that much of a right to be mad. He doesn't owe me anything because of one freaking date.

So I give in and just let everything go. "It's okay."

"I want to hang out, though," he gives me a small smile, "whenever you're free."

"Whenever you want," I throw it back in his court so he doesn't realize what a loser I am since I'm free ALL weekend.

He thinks about it for a moment before grabbing his keys out of his backpack, "I'm actually free all weekend so whenever you want. After school, tomorrow, well, after my 8 o'clock game. Sunday. Whenever, really."

Fuck. Now he's throwing it back in my court. Ugh. I don't want to pick. I want him to just tell me. But I can't throw it back AGAIN. I will, though. "Just pick."

He laughs as we start walking to our cars, "well, you wanna go to dinner tonight or something?"

YES. God. I might be making the biggest mistake, but I can't help it. I just want to be around him. I just want to hang out with him and talk to him and stare into his beautiful, bright blue eyes. So whatever. I might regret it later, but right now, it feels... right. "Yeah, dinner sounds good. What time?"

"I'll pick you up at 7," he says with a smile before disappearing to his car.

And that was that. We were going to dinner.


	14. Chapter 14: Troy

There were two plans.

One of them was to go to dinner with Gabriella, but as I was driving to pick her up, I realized it was so cliche. So now we're on our third to last hole of mini golf because I haven't played in SO long and I had the urge. This was cliche, too, but at least it was fun.

The other plan was to stay away from her, but that failed. Obviously. I'm standing right behind her waiting for her to golf.

I tried, though. And her being absent for two days made it a bit easier, but once she came back, I couldn't. I just couldn't stay away. I go back and forth between knowing I'm no good for her and not caring because I just want to hang out with her. And I'm sure it made her upset. I'm sure it made her annoyed but she forgave me and that makes everything that much worse. It means she's such a nice girl. It means that I shouldn't be fucking with her. I shouldn't be playing games. Talking to her one day, not the next, but it's such a fucking battle in my mind.

Saturday after that party, I didn't text her and I just let the weekend pass by. Monday, thankfully, I woke up with the worst headache. And Tuesday, it was hard, but I just didn't look her way. I straight up just ignored her like an asshole.

But by Friday, I couldn't. She was wearing leggings, an oversized sweatshirt and her hair was in a bun and I just couldn't help it. I HAD to talk to her.

So now we're here, mini golfing and having the best time.

"Ugh! That was such a good hit, too," she whined because she didn't get a hole in one, "what the hell."

"Step aside and let me show you how it's done," I tell her, putting the ball down and lining up so I could take my turn. I've had 4 hole in ones and she's had two and I think it was making her a bit upset which was really cute, "you just have to know your angle, you know?"

She looks at me with an annoyed look and shakes her head, "just hit it."

So I do. And I bomb it. I didn't even make it though the hole that it was supposed to go in before going to the second part of this hole. Embarrassing.

And of course Gabriella couldn't help, but laugh. "You just have to know your angle, right?"

"Whatever," I mumble as I grab my ball again, place it down and give it a second try. And this time it smoothly goes into the hole and drops to the second part of it and when I walk over to see where it landed, it was an inch or so behind hers. "I'm gonna win this hole, watch."

"Well, it's my turn, so," she moves me to the side, lines up to hit her ball and yep, she makes it in. She won.

I laugh, annoyed at how cocky I'm being about this game. But mini golf is MY game. I'm better at getting hole in ones, but she gets less hits on every hole usually so it balances out and it's a super close game.

She turns around, sticks her tongue out at me, picks her ball up out of the hole and then walks over to me. "You know you have grass in your hair."

What? Ha. I do? I reach up and try to find it, but I can't. Is she just fucking with me?

But she comes forward a bit and reaches up to the side of my head, next to my ear and picks out a small leaf. She shows me it, chuckles a bit and then drops it to the ground. "I guess it was a leaf."

"Yeah," is all I manage to spit out as I'm still looking into her eyes.

And before I know it, I'm leaning down and giving her a kiss on the lips. Not just like a little peck. But a KISS.

She kissed me back and after what felt like an appropriate time to break apart, we did. Because I mean, we're in public. I don't want to be those people. And also because we're not a couple. A couple who just kisses whenever. We went on ONE date. We don't know what we are. We don't really know what we're doing yet, I don't think. So kissing like nothing is probably not up our alley right now.

But it felt so good and I want to do that again. Spontaneously. I want to be able to kiss her whenever I want and wherever.

We continued to play and for the first time it what felt like forever, I lost.

I lost to Gabriella and she didn't gloat or anything, which made it okay to lose to her even thought I HATE losing. Even if it's in stupid mini golf.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone," she tells me as we pull out of the parking lot.

Normally, I'd be a bit upset. I'm so competitive, it's crazy. Last time, my friend beat me and I swear I was mad at him. I was like upset. And it's weird how upset I get over damn mini golf. But anything, really. It could have been a game of poker. I don't know. It's fucking weird how I function about games.

But I wasn't upset with her. I wasn't even annoyed. I was... fine. Because she's not being annoying about it. "Thank you so much."

She laughed, detecting the sarcasm, "do you mini golf a lot?"

I shake my head, "not really anymore. The last time I came was about 5 months ago. But as a kid, oh, all the time. My brother and I loved it so my parents always brought us here. It felt like every weekend but it probably wasn't. It was our favorite thing to do."

"So, it was sort of like a family tradition?"

"Yeah, something like that," I glance over at her with a smile before merging onto the freeway.

I can tell she wants to talk about my family. Like, that's something that would interest her, but she doesn't know if we're at that point yet. Because yeah, sure it is kind of personal. We haven't talked about our families. I mean, I know she has a sister off at college. And she knows I have a brother off at college but that's as far as it goes. Nothing really personal. I don't know her family dynamic. I don't know if she actually even gets along with her parents.

And I wouldn't mind knowing. But that would just mean it's getting to a point where it could potentially become... something. You know?

"Do you miss you sister?"

She looks over at me, I think a bit surprised and nods her head, "everyday."

I switch lanes, look over my shoulder, switch into he next lane and once I'm on the lane I want to be and I'm going at a good speed, I glance over at her and she's just looking out the window. Not in a sad way, but in a way where I feel sad for her that she doesn't have her sister here all the time with her.

"You guys are close?" I ask, but obviously I can assume they are.

"Yeah," she looks over at me, turning her body a bit, "we're only a year apart so yeah, we're pretty close."

"She didn't go to Canyon, did she?" I ask.

She shakes her head and looks at me as if I would actually no she didn't go to Canyon. But I mean, I'm sure I would've. "no, she went to Torrey Pines. All her friends from middle school were going there so she used my grandma's address to make it her home school. And Canyon's our home school so I went there."

Yeah, makes sense. "Oh. I almost went to Torrey, my house is literally split down the middle so both are kinda my home schools."

"Would you have wanted to go there?"

"Nah, all my friends were going to Canyon and they have a better soccer team."

"Yeah, that's cool," she says, which it looks like she instantly regrets. It was so cute to see her.

So I don't really tease her abut her because that's annoying. I've seen it in movies and it's just not cute. I don't know. Whatever. I just laugh it off and continue what I wanted to talk about. "So, you're close with your sister?"

That looked like something she doesn't mind talking about it, judging by the smile on her face. "Yeah, like I said, we're a year apart so naturally, we're close. But I don't know. I like hanging out with her. We get along really well. If we do fight, it lasts like ten minutes and then we're back to talking to each other."

That's nice. I wish I had that with my brother. "Really? You guys don't ever fight? Stay mad at each other for days?"

"No," she shakes her head, "no. I can't remember ever being mad at her for longer than an hour, tops. We fight about dumb stuff if we are to fight. Never anything truly serious. I don't know, I got lucky I guess. We genuinely like each other and we don't want to fight or anything."

"That must be nice," I say and then realize now's probably the time she's going to ask about my brother.

"Why?" she asks, just like I thought, "you don't get along with your brother?"

I shrug, not knowing what to really call it. "I mean, we get along. We hang out. But I wouldn't call him my friend. He's just my brother, you know?"

She looks like she gets it and she also looks like she regrets asking me about it and I definitely don't want her feeling like that. Nope. It wasn't my intention at all. I mean, I knew the question would come back my way when I asked about her sister so I can't really shut her up about it or cut her off.

"It's okay. I have Matt. He's my best friend. Some families just aren't as close as others."

"He's only two years older?"

I nod and I want to explain to her our dynamic. I want her to feel like I'm letting her in a little bit. I really do. "Yeah, which should make us better friends or whatever, but I mean, he's just a typical older brother you see in those movies. He shows off, brags about how much better he is, gives me shit any time he possibly can. And I love him, I do, he's my brother. But we're just not as close as some siblings. That's it."

And I can't really tell what she's thinking, but I definitely don't want her feeling sorry for me. I have a relationship with my brother. It's just not as close as I'd like it to be. Or it should be, really, since we both have the same parents, grew up together, all that. There's no adversity there.

"So you guys are, like, competitive and that kind of puts a strain on your relationship?"

"I don't know," I shrug, "maybe it's just me and my insecurities. He's always been the golden child. Pulling straight A's while being well liked by everyone and playing baseball. He's just always been one step ahead of me."

"I'm sure that's not true," she tries saying, but I mean, no disrespect to her, but she doesn't know my family or anything.

So I cut her off. "It feels like it. And I don't feel sorry for myself. I have a great family and they don't ignore me or anything like that, but I'm just... I'm not my brother. He's going to be a lawyer, I have no idea what I'm going to be. What I want to do. He's the golden child and that's just something that's kind of made us separate a bit, not be as close."

She didn't push it. She offered some kind words and then I turned the radio up and sang along to the song that was playing. And that was that.

And I think that's one thing I like about Gabriella. How she just gets it. She doesn't ever push anything. She doesn't push me to talk about anything.

Like, the other day when college came up again and the look she gave me... it's like she just knew it made me uncomfortable and she changed the subject without wanting to make it known she was changing it for me. You know? But I know. And I'm happy about it.

Then before I know it, I'm dropping her off at home and I'm a bit sad about it.

But again, I have an early game and I need some sleep.

I got out of the car and instead of walking her to her porch, she sort of just leaned against the car. Maybe she didn't want me to walk her to her front door and I could pick up on that so I just stood there in front of her, waiting to see if she said anything.

She didn't, though. She just stood there looking at me and I knew it was my cue to lean forward and kiss her goodnight.

So I did. I closed the space between us, grab her face and placed my lips on top of hers.

She snaked her arms around my neck as I pushed her gently against the car and deepened the kiss, cupping her face a little tighter. We moved in sync and before I knew it, our tongues were intertwined and we were making out. Full on making out. In front of her house. After a really fun date.

And this all just feels so real now.

But in this moment right now with her, I wouldn't want it any other way.


	15. Chapter 15: Gabriella

I needed air. And I know he probably needed some too.

So I pulled away and breathed all the fresh air in as he looked down at me giving me a small smile with a chuckle.

It got pretty intense. I'm not going to lie. And it was the first time we made out so it was a moment. It was a moment for both of us and now we're both standing here, and I'm trying not to giggle like a dumb little girl, but I couldn't help but smile as well. I loved it so much. I love kissing him.

"I should get going," he tells me, "early game."

"Right," I remember. An 8 o'clock game I wish I was going to, but it's away and no, I'm not getting up at 7 AM. "yeah, you should."

He looks over his shoulder over at my house, probably debating whether or not he should walk me to my door, but it's not that far so I could walk myself. And also, I'm pretty sure my parents are in the front living room and I didn't want them seeing anything so that's why I just sort of stood by his car.

I smile at him and tell him that I'm good with walking myself. "Thanks again for tonight."

"Yeah, I had a lot of fun," he tells me and I know he means it. I can tell by the way he's looking at me. There's sincerity in his eyes and I absolutely love it.

"Me, too." I couldn't think of anything other than that to say.

He gives me one more kiss before backing away, which bums me out, but I know he has to get home. "Goodnight."

I just gave him a small smile as he walked away and I went to my got into his car, watched as I got in and then drove off. Dejavu. Except this time it feels more serious. It feels like we're on our way to something good. Of course I don't want to get ahead of myself or jinx everything, but it feels good. And it'll be nice if we have more nights like this.

But as soon as I walk into the living room and see the white roses sitting there, my mood instantly changes.

I know exactly who these flowers are from and I really wish he hadn't sent them.

Dropping my purse to the floor, I grabbed the card attached to it and debated reading it. Should I? Should I actually read it and see what he has to say? Or should I ignore it, go upstairs and think about the fun night I had with Troy because that's what my life is today. My life no longer consists of my ex.

But something came over me and I opened the card. And read it.

_I wish things were different. And I hope you find it in your heart to forgive me because I love you and I know we can make this work. _

Fuuuuck. I wish I hadn't read that. I wish I just walked away and left the note there. Because now I'm standing here looking at these stupid flowers and all these memories are flashing back and everything we had is present in my mind. Ughhhhh.

Andrew and I were together for two years. My sophomore and junior year. And I loved him. He loved me. He was my first. I was his. We did everything and anything together. And he was my best friend. And even though we were young, we are young, it felt serious. And it felt like we were going to be together forever and ever. Which is why the breakup crushed me.

But at this point in my life, I'm over it. I'm over what he did. I'm over hoping that he'd come back for me. I'm just over it.

We broke up in June. It's October. 5 months. And I'm over it.

I will always love him. I will forever have a piece of him in my heart, but I just don't think I can be with him. I can't. He didn't choose us. He chose to do whatever he wanted and that would have been fine if he hadn't promised me everything would be okay and then turn around and have it not be okay.

It has nothing to do with Troy. Even if Troy wasn't in the picture, I don't know if I could get back with him.

"Pretty flowers."

No way. I turned around and squealed like no other.

My sister was home. SHE WAS HOME. STANDING RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME.

"Tori!" I screamed, probably louder than I should have this late at night, but my freaking sister was home from college! Eeek! I leaned in immediately and gave her the biggest hug I think I've ever given her in my whole life, but I was just too excited. "Oh my gosh, what're you doing here?!"

She laughed as she pulled away, "just felt like visiting. My class on Monday got canceled so thought I'd come and spend the weekend with you guys."

BEST SURPRISE EVER. "Good. I've missed you so much!"

"And I've missed you," she smiles at me, tucking some hair behind her ear, "it feels like forever but it's only been a month."

"A month too long," I remind her.

She nods and laughed, "I know, I'm sorry I chose to go to school in LA, but pretty soon you're going to be there with me. Or you're going to be away from home and you'll understand why I love it so much. Complete independence and freedom."

That sounds nice, but at the same time, my parents have never been THAT strict so I don't feel restricted at home. "I'm just happy you're home."

"Me, too," she tells me before looking over my shoulders, "those are nice flowers."

"I don't know why he even bothered. I'm done."

She frowned. She loved Andrew. My whole family did. And even though they're completely on my side about everything and they think what he did was wrong, it didn't take away the fact that they loved him and they loved him for me at the time. 2 years was a long time. And he became a part of the family during that time so it's understandable. My family misses him. And I miss him sometimes, too, but I don't think I really want to go back to that.

"Completely? I mean, a five hour plane ride isn't so bad..."

"It's 5 too many, Tor," I remind her, "no. I can't have this conversation. I just, I can't..."

She put her hands up as if she's seeking mercy or something, "No, yeah, definitely, I completely get it. It's just... um, never mind. Your life. You can choose whatever you want. I just know that you guys loved each other and I didn't think it was going to end there, I really didn't."

Yeah, same. "Me neither."

"Anywaaaay," she knows I don't want to talk about this any longer, thank God, "um, who were you just with?"

Troy. Instant smile to my face.

One, because he is so good looking and funny and nice and I have such a good time with him. Even if we're just eating together, conversation is always so good. And two, because I'm actually hanging out with a guy and it's romantic. I never thought I'd do that again after Andrew, but here I am...

I grabbed my purse off the ground and led us to the living room because I was thirsty and I wanted some water or something.

"Troy," I tell her as I take a water out of the fridge, "I've kind of been hanging out with. Nothing serious, but I don't know, he's cool."

"He's cool?" she says with a laugh, "Troy Bolton? Like the most popular guy at your school?"

Fuck. Of course she knows him. Who doesn't know him? I laughed it off. "Yeah, I know, it's fucking weird. But I was fully aware it could be some sort of sick joke, prank, whatever and I don't think it is... I don't know. I like hanging out with him. It hasn't been long, but it's nice."

Tori laughed and shook her head, "what the fuck? Why would it be a sick joke? You're gorgeous and you're not unpopular, I don't know why you think that."

"Whatever," I don't want to really get into it, "it's new. It's nothing serious."

"But could it ever become serious?" she asks as she takes a seat on the counter, "I mean, I don't know a lot about him, but just knowing how popular he is and how that usually plays out... you're not that kind of girl. You're not the girl to just sit around and wait for someone to come around and get serious."

"I'm not, but I don't know. I'm not really thinking with this one, Tor, and it might backfire on me completely, I'm aware of that, but oh my gosh, whenever I'm around him, I just... it feels good. And I forget about everything and kind of just go with the flow."

She's all too familiar with it, I know she is. So if anyone can pass judgement, it's definitely her. "Just be careful, is all. I know you're smart, but still."

I'm trying. I really am. But so far, I've seen a different side of Troy Bolton. A side I really like.

"Yeah, I will."

* * *

"Okay, okay, I got one," Troy tells me as he throws his empty frozen yogurt cup in the trashcan, "if you could go anywhere in the world right now and can only take one person with you, who would it be?"

Is this a trick question? Does he want me to say him? Because I mean, I'm a pretty normal girl. And rational. And practical. I'm definitely not going to say him after only knowing him for, like, a couple of weeks. "I'd probably go to Australia and take Brooke because she's down to do anything adventurous."

He nodded his head as if he was pleased with my answer, "I've heard it's really nice over there, it's on my bucket list."

"Yeah, my cousin went not too long ago. Didn't care for the plane ride and jet lag that followed, but she loved everything so I've been wanting to go since."

"Well, maybe one day," he tells me with a smile, "okay, your turn."

Right. My turn. We've been playing the typical question game for the pat five minutes. We're only a few questions in but I like it. He started off with one that wasn't so typical. He asked if I could make a plate right now of any five foods I want, what would it be. And then from there, it's just been like that, too. It wasn't the, what's your favorite color, typical question shit that people who get to know each other do.

And I liked it. We've been hanging out for close to two weeks now and it's been a week since that first date and I don't know. I like hanging out with him.

"What would you change about you if you could?"

He looked over at me, didn't blink, and then just looked ahead.

It looked like he was thinking about it, but at the same time, it looked like he didn't really want to answer and I kind of regretted it. I didn't know if I wanted to ask that question, but I went with it and now I don't know if it was a good idea or not. Fuck. Way to go, Gabriella, you idiot.

But he turned to me, stopped walking and shrugged, "quite a few things, but probably my stubbornness."

Quite a few things? Doesn't everyone like him and want to be his friend? Doesn't that kind of signify that you're pretty great? I doubt he needs to change that many things about him. He's fine the way he is, right? But stubbornness... I don't know if he has that in him but that's a good answer, I suppose.

"A lot of people do," I say as I take my last bite of my frozen yogurt before throwing the cup away in the trash.

"Yeah," he smiles and then we start walking again, "when you're older with kids and a husband, what's one of your goals?"

"One of my goals?" I didn't quite understand the question.

He shrugged, I'm guessing he didn't really think this one through, ha, "I mean, like when you're married and you have kids, what do you want it to be like?"

Oh. Okay. I get it. I guess what do I want life to be like when I'm older. How I envision my family. And lucky for him, I've thought a lot about this, but I'm definitely not going to make it seem like I thought a lot about this. No way, that'd be weird.

"I want a 9-5 job so I can make dinner for my kids. I would love it if my mom was able to watch them while my husband and I worked or my mother in law. One of them. Because I don't think I'd do well with a nanny, someone who was once a stranger, do it. I like traditional, but I would definitely want my husband to be very hands on. Like, if he cooked sometimes, that'd be great. Definitely take the kids baths. I want him to coach their teams. And I want to be the mom who does carpool. I don't know, just successful, happy and healthy, really. And where it doesn't seem like I'm doing all the work. Team effort."

Troy looked over at me, didn't say anything for what felt like forever and then let out a smile, "that sounds nice."

Nice? It sounded nice. Ha. Well, okay. "Do you see yourself living here when you're older?"

"All the time," he nods, "I'd be happy living here my whole life, but who knows if that'll happen. I hope so. I love the beach."

"Yeah, same," I'm the same way. I'm incredibly lucky to be living where I live and I don't think I'll ever want to change that. DEFINITELY not anytime soon.

"And California has it all," he points out, "I've been to Colorado, you have to drive like 10 minutes to hit a Trader Joes."

I laughed. He knows I love going there because well, I told him. And I already have bars from there stashed in my purse for my convenience. "Oh, I know. That's exactly why I don't think I can ever leave San Diego... California."

He looked over at me and gave me a small smile and didn't say much else. BUT he did grab my hand. And that made me incredibly happy. It was the first time we were holding hands. Full on holding hands and walking. And it just brought a smile to my face because it meant things were moving along. I mean, hand holding? C'mon. That's couple shit. And I know we're definitely not a couple, nope, too soon for that... but it's headed that way, I think.

"A month ago, did you think you'd be here?"

He looked over me with a small smile, "I think it's my turn to ask you a question."

Technically it is, but there was a long silence so I thought we were done playing that game for now. "Right."

"A month ago, did you think you'd be here?" he asks me.

"What?" I look up at him and let out a small laugh. Fuck. He turned the question around on me. And I really wanted HIM to answer it, but rules are rules. "Um no, not really. Because I never thought you and I were compatible or anything, to be honest."

It was honest. And I know I'm not offending him. Plenty of girls want him to not feel offended by my comment just now.

He nodded as we continued walking to his car and then looked over at me, "I didn't think I'd be here, either, but I'm happy about it."

Me, too. And I know I could be completely naive right now, I'm well aware that he could be telling this to a few different girls, but something inside of me thinks he's not. And it might completely backfire on me. It might be thrown in my face. But right now, in this moment, I'm happy with how everything is and how I think things will continue to be.

I'm just happy to be hanging out with him and I never thought I would be. It's a nice surprise.

And I just hope to God that ignoring everything I'm ignoring about him, about this situation, his reputation is worth it.

"I'm happy about it, too," I tell him as I squeeze his hand a bit and give him a smile.

Happier than I thought I'd be.


	16. Chapter 16: Troy

"Wait, where are you going?" My mom pops out of nowhere as I'm opening the front door, "come with me!"

Fuuuck. I was almost out the door . And it's not like I was purposely sneaking out, I told her earlier I was going out, but didn't give her details. And now, I'm probably going to be hammered with questions. "Mom, I don't really have time, I'm late and..."

She grabbed my hand and basically dragged me to the kitchen, not saying anything.

And I think I'm kind of glad she did.

The kitchen was filled with baked goods. She was doing all of this while I was upstairs napping? I'm confused. Why were there cupcakes and cookies?

"I want you to try all this for me," she tells me as she hands me a cupcake, "your aunt suckered me into baking some things for their church bake sale that's tonight and dad's not home so you're the next best thing. I have until 6 so if it's not good, I have to make something else."

"Okay," I grab the cupcake, take off the wrapper and stuff half in my mouth.

She's watching me intently and it's kind of freaking me out, but anyone that knows my mom knows she's kind of a perfectionist so I get it.

I don't say anything after I'm done. I just walk around her and grab a cookie and stuff that into my mouth as well. I'm glad she made all this. I was actually getting pretty hungry and I don't think I could have waited until dinner without these things.

"Well?" Her eyes are basically bugging out.

"They're good, mom," I laugh as I grab a cup from the cabinet and go over to the fridge to pour myself some milk.

"Like, would you walk away saying that they were good cookies or would you eat them, think they're good but not think about them ever again?"

Okay, this lady's weird. But she's my mom and I love her. "Mom, they're really good. Better than the last batch you made a few weeks ago. And I wouldn't lie to you. I think everyone's going to love them. And the cupcakes. Both."

She smiled at me and looked relieved and then turned around and took a deep breath, "okay, thank you."

"You're welcome," I drink the rest of the milk and put the glass in the sink, "I gotta go. I don't know when I'll be back, but later."

"Wait," she turns around and calls out to me before I could get out of her sight.

Uggghhhhh. I'm going to be late. And I never want to be late picking up Gabriella. I don't want it to be on her list of reasons why she shouldn't date me or whatever, assuming she has a list. "Mom, I really have to go."

She takes off her apron, puts it on the back of one of the stools and pushes some hair back, looking a bit sad, "well, where are you going?"

"I'm grabbing dinner with Gabriella."

"Gabriella?" she asks, "the girl you've been hanging out with? The one I haven't met?"

"Mom," I throw my head back a bit knowing exactly where she's getting at and I don't really have time for that right now, "it's nothing serious right now. We are just hanging out and I have no idea what's going to happen. It's, like, way too soon for her to be meeting my family."

She shakes her head, obviously disagreeing with me, "but she's been in my house! I deserve to meet her!"

Yes, Gabriella has been in this house. This past Sunday night when I knew they weren't going to be home, last week when we did homework while they went to some dinner. It's all been strategic because it's too soon.

"Look, I can't promise her a relationship right now and if it gets to that point, if I know it's heading there, I'll definitely let you meet her."

"What do you mean you can't promise her a relationship right now?"

Fuuuck. Okay. This is going in a direction I don't want it to go. But she's not going to stop talking to me if I don't just put an end to this conversation. "I just meant that right now, it's nothing serious. Tomorrow she can realize that she wants nothing to do with me. I can realize I don't want anything to do with her and I don't know, we haven't had the talk about what we're doing. If we're seeing other people or anything like that."

My mom gives me a stern look, "well, are you seeing other girls beside her?"

"No," I shake my head. I'm really not. "No, I'm not. I just... I don't think she is either, but I think we can. It hasn't been long. It's not anything serious."

"Well, maybe you should make it serious, Troy. I want you to have a girlfriend and I want you to have someone you can just hang out with on a Friday night at home and just chill out. Don't you want that? Instead of going to some party to get drunk?"

I do want that. But it's... complicated. "Look, mom, I can't get into this right now, but Gabriella... she's the kind of girl you marry. The kind of girl you don't want to hurt and for some reason, she's into me and I'm not sure why because she deserves better and..."

My mom cut me off right away, "don't you dare say that, Troy. You are a wonderful human being. You're kind, you're generous, you're..."

"Mom, please stop. You're my mom," I tell her, not knowing why this conversation suddenly took this turn. Well, it was my fault, but ugh. Now I'm wishing that I didn't say anything. "I'm fine knowing this. I really am."

"I don't want either of you to get hurt," she tells me, "if you're trying to have fun, pick someone who has fun for a living."

To shut down this whole conversation, I just nod and agree with her. It's the best for now. And then I take a deep breath, go give her a hug and a kiss and tell her that I won't be long, it's just dinner. And she just stands there with a small smile on her face.

I really don't know how conversation went there, but I'm glad I'm walking away from it.

Because I definitely don't need to be reminded that maybe I am making a huge mistake hanging out with Gabriella.

But I just can't seem to stay away.

* * *

"What's that?" I point to a picture Gabriella has laminated of herself.

"Oh this?" She fully takes it out of her purse since it was falling out, "my pass to the assisted living home I volunteer at."

Of course. Of course she volunteers at one of those places. Fuck. Does she have an evil bone in her body? I swear, she's, like, the perfect human being. Granted, we've only been hanging out a couple weeks, so I don't know everything, but I can tell she's pretty perfect. Close to perfect, anyway.

And now I feel like a fucking loser for not volunteering there. "Oh, you do? When?"

"Whenever I have time," she shrugs, putting it away, "last week, I went Thursday afternoon and Saturday morning for a little bit. I don't get paid or anything so it doesn't really matter what time I come in."

"And what do you do?" I ask, a bit intrigued. "Like, read books to them? Give them their breakfast or lunch?"

"Yeah, basically. Keep them company," she nods, "some don't have family so it can get a bit lonely. This one lady one time kept me, like, three hours telling me all about how she met her husband, why they split up and then why they decided to marry again. And you sort of just sit there and listen. Many are in different situations- some are sick and need the assistance 24/7, some don't have anywhere else to go. It's just something to do."

Wow. She definitely is way better of a person than I am. If I don't have anything to do, I go to sleep. Or watch some movies or something.

Man oh man. Now another reason to add to the list of why she's too good for me. Fuck.

"That's really nice of you." It's extremely nice of her.

"I'd want the same thing," she shrugs as if she's not doing anything important, but really,she is. She probably makes these people's days. She'd make mine for sure. She does. She makes my days. "And I'm not the only one."

She's trying to downplay it because I know she doesn't do it for attention and I like that about her. She's so fucking real and nice and it's intimidating. It's so intimidating. Like, how am I supposed to keep up with someone like her? I don't think I can, to be honest.

Which is why I'm trying to push that out of my mind right now because I love hanging out with her and being around her.

"Wait, where are we even going?"

"I thought I told you?" I glance over at her before looking over my shoulder to switch lanes.

"No," she shakes her head, "unless I just wasn't paying attention."

Maybe she wasn't or maybe I didn't tell her? Maybe I just picked her up and just started driving? Ha. I don't really remember. I probably didn't tell her to be honest because she straightened her hair and for some reason, straight hair on her gets me. I can't look away. I'm so mesmerized.

So I was probably too caught up in that to actually tell her where we were going.

"I know it's a little bit of a drive, but thought we could go to La Mesa and have some Mexican food. It's hands down the best Mexican food I've ever had."

"That's fine, I don't have anything to do and that sounds good," she tells me as she sits back and takes her phone out.

I should be paying attention to the road, I know that, but it's kind of hard when you notice that she has like five texts from someone. You know how iphones are, the person texting you, their text is gray and your text is in blue... well, there's like, five incoming texts from them. And on her side, there's nothing. Unless you scroll up. Maybe she sent them something first and now they're replying. I don't really know.

Why I'm fixated on it, though, is because I can clearly see the name at the top of the text.

Andrew.

She's texting her ex boyfriend.

Or he's texting her. I haven't quite figured it out yet.

And for some reason, it's like a punch to the stomach. A kind of hard one. Like, we're on our way to dinner, we're romantic, and she's sitting here reading texts from her ex boyfriend. And ex boyfriend who she was with for two years, which means she was probably really in love with him.

Any person should be a bit upset about it, right? Or feel weird about it, at least. I do. I feel so weird about it right now.

But I don't say anything because within seconds of reading all those texts, she locks her phone and puts it back in her purse and doesn't look at it again.

"Can I change the station?" she asks me, "or do you like this song?"

"Oh, um, no, go ahead," I'm trying to decide if I'm mad at her or not, but I don't think I really have a reason to be. I mean, we're not an official couple. It's only been a couple weeks. I can't keep her from talking to any other guys. "I don't really like the song."

She smiles and reaches for the dial and puts it on some country song, which strangely I don't mind. It's catchy.

And for the next ten minutes of this drive, I decide I'm not really mad at her, I'm just... I guess a bit sad. Because I know who Andrew is and he's the kind of guy you take home to mom, you know?

He's in New York and I'm not sure if that's why they broke up, but they broke up at the beginning of the summer so I don't think it was. But he's in New York and attending school and he was just always one of those guys that everyone liked. He played baseball and wasn't exactly that popular because believe it or not, baseball isn't that big at our school like most others. But people knew him. People liked him. And him and Gabriella were that couple that everyone kind of looked at and went "awww" you know? He's attractive, she's beautiful and they complimented each other well, I guess. I don't know. Didn't know much about them, to be honest. They weren't the "it" couple like the captain of the cheer team and the captain of the football team. But that's what I heard. And so it wouldn't surprise me if they somehow wanted to get back together or whatever, if he wanted her back, if she's still into him...

I shake it off and just decide to enjoy this night and enjoy her company and not think about anything else.

And before I knew it, we're there and sitting across from each other.

"What's good here?" Gabriella opens her menu and then looks up at me, "what do you get?"

"Everything," I laugh as I open the menu as well even though I'm pretty sure I'm already set on what I want to order, "you can't go wrong with the carne asada burrito or the enchiladas. But the combo plate is my all time favorite... well, if you're hungry. It's kinda a lot of food."

She scans her eyes over each item, it seems, and takes it all in. She flips the page and looks at the rest of it.

And then she lifts her head, closes her menu and smiles at me, "I think I'll go with the enchiladas. Maybe the combo plate another time because everything on there does sound pretty good."

"Well, I'm getting that so you can try whatever you want and decide for yourself."

"Okay," she tells me, sliding her menu to the end of the table. "Did you just randomly come here one day or what? I've never heard of it."

I looked around the place along with her and nodded. "Yeah, my cousin dragged me out here, I don't even remember for what, and we were hungry and came across the place and I haven't looked back since. It's seriously my favorite Mexican food, probably ever. And I've been to those old town San Diego restaurants. It does not even compare. Trust me."

She laughed as she reached for her iced tea the waitress had already brought us, "I'm scared I won't like it and you'll be mad."

"No," I laugh, probably sounding like a freak for raving about it so much, "you can hate it if you want."

"I probably won't. I mean, these chips and salsa are already the best I've ever had."

I'm not sure if she's just humoring me, but I'll take it. And I'll take some chips too... I reached over and grabbed some, dipped them in the salsa and tossed them in my mouth before the waitress came back over to take out order.

I went with the combo plate, as usual, and she ordered the enchiladas with rice and beans, which I hope she loves.

And once the waitress was out of sight, I decided to just ask her. Ask her why her and Andrew broke up and then casually go from there...

"Can I ask you something?"

"Those words are always worrisome," she puts her iced tea down, "what's up?"

"Oh, no, um, I don't think it's anything... well, I don't know, maybe," I ramble and then get control of it. Just fucking ask her, Troy. She's not going to be mean about it and if she doesn't want to talk about it, she'll let you down easy. "I was just wondering why you and Andrew broke up."

Her face kind of fell. She went from having a semi smile on her face to it being emotionless. "Oh..."

Oh? Fuck. "You don't have to tell me. I, um, ever since this... I kind of wondered because I don't know, two years and you guys seemed..."

I'm probably making it worse. I know that. Fuck.

"It's okay," she puts some hair behind her ear, "um, yeah, it's fine. We just... he went off to school in New York and well, I'm here. It was going to be hard to keep a relationship going when we're thousands of miles apart, you know? It just didn't really make any sense."

"It is pretty far," I point out, but I feel like it's not the real reason, "but two years together..."

She looked at me and then looked down and played with the wrapper of her straw. And then finally she looked back up. "He picked New York over me."

Okay. Now I feel kind of bad. The way that just came out... man, it probably hurt. But I am really interested. I'm interested how someone who's capable of loving her would actually let her go. "He picked New York over you?"

"I was a sophomore, he was a junior when we decide what colleges we wanted to go to," she starts telling me, "at the time, we were only like 7 months in, so we had no idea what was going to happen, but if this were to happen, it would be okay because we'd only be thirty minutes away from each other. He'd be at USC and I'd be at UCLA and we'd make it work if that were to happen. It was a set plan. He was a year older so obviously we'd do long distance for the time being, but two hours is doable. And that's what I thought was going to happen... all of his senior year, I thought he was going to USC..."

"You had no idea he was thinking of going to New York?"

She shook her head slightly and I let her continue. I shouldn't interrupt. "He told me he applied to USC, UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara and even UCLA. He didn't just want to apply to one school, but I knew he'd get into all of them. He was smart. He played baseball. I wasn't necessarily mad because they were all still in California so it wouldn't exactly go as planned, but we could manage, you know?"

She stopped for a minute because the waitress came over and brought us more chips and salsa and refilled her iced tea as well as mine.

And once she was out of sight, she continued, "It wasn't until after graduation that he told me he got accepted to Colombia and he was planning on going there because how could he not? And it just felt like such a personal attack, like how could he do this to me?"

"Sorry," I apologize for interrupting, but I just had to, "he really didn't tell you about Colombia until after he graduated and accepted and everything?"

"Yeah," she chuckles, but I think it was a nervous laugh, "yeah, how crazy, right?"

"Why?" I think out loud, "why would he do that?"

Gabriella shrugged, "I've never been more upset in my whole life than that moment. That moment he told me he was going to New York. Because I thought we were going to work this out... I didn't think we were anywhere near breaking up, but he had a different idea. I knew he didn't want to come out and say he wanted to break up because he didn't want to stick salt in the wound so I told him we should break up. I was so pissed. It just felt so calculated... it felt so shady and like he did it so we could break up. So he could have his freedom in college and not feel guilty about it because he could blame it on the distance for us not being together. But I knew better. I knew that's exactly what he wanted. So we broke up."

Oh man. That's... that's really sad. And I'm not mad about it because I mean, she's here with me, but I feel really bad she had to go through that.

"Do you think you guys would still be together if he went to USC?"

"That's the thing," she says, looking back up at me, "I knew if he went to USC, he'd be overwhelmed with trying to make the relationship work because for two years, it was me. It was all me. I lived two minutes away from him. We went to the same school. He never had to make an effort. I was the one going to him, I was the one organizing things for us to do, I was the one who would go over to his house and hang out with him. And so if we were away from each other, at a distance where we could easily make it work, he'd have to try. But if he was in New York, he could blame it on the thousands of miles between us and it's hard to hate him for being fucking smart about it. He wanted his freedom and to hook up with girls and whatever so New York was the better choice because if he went to USC, he'd have to stick to the plan. But yeah, that's that. We broke up and I really don't want to think about if we'd still be together..."

Oh wow. This was kind of a lot to take in. I mean, he deceived her. Badly. In such a big way. He deceived her.

They had an agreement. They were so in love that they were thinking about about their future. The decided to do this whole college thing together and then he rips the rug right from under her and leaves. To the other side of the country.

"I'm sorry," I really and truly mean it because that really sucks. To think your boyfriend is all in with you and then leaves.

"I'm fine," she shrugs, "everything happens for a reason."

"Are you guys fine or do you hate him?"

I make it seem like I didn't see she was texting him but it's all I'm thinking about right now, to be honest. After hearing this story, I mean, how could she talk to him? Two years that he threw away because he wanted freedom? What a fucking douche bag.

She shakes her head. "No, actually, he texted me earlier. He's been doing that lately and I'm not really replying. I don't really care what he has to say."

"What if he transfers back because he misses you so much?" I ask.

"I'm okay with how things are."

Oh my gosh. I shouldn't push it. I don't even know what I'm looking for. Did I expect her to come out and say, yeah, I'll get back with him because he's so much better than you? I don't know. I'm an idiot. I don't want him to transfer back at all. Or tell her that he misses her.

But her answer... her answer meant everything. She's okay with him being across the country. And she's okay with not being with him.

So I drop it and just give her a smile. "I am, too."

I really am okay with it. He was an idiot and I really don't want to be one, either. No, I want this to work out. And if it doesn't, I don't want it to be for a lack of trying because Gabriella's great. She's so fucking great. I can't even believe I'm here right now.

But I'm so happy I am.


	17. Chapter 17: Gabriella

"I feel like this should be a framed picture or something."

"What?" I take the phone out of Troy's hand and look at the picture. "Not even."

He laughs and looks over my shoulder at it once more, "yes, even. It's so candid. The giraffe is there being all cute, sticking his head out and you're there laughing at it, looking like you're having the time of your life. How is this not the perfect picture?"

It made me blush. He's making me blush.

We're currently at the San Diego Zoo. Well, the safari park. It's smaller and has less animals but it gets the job done. And it's less crowded.

"Because if you look closely, I'm laughing because I'm terrified," I laugh as I give him back his phone, "but thank you."

"No way, you're crazy," he laughs, putting his phone in his pocket as we walked to our next stop: the safari tour, which I'm SO excited about. "Wait, are we done after the tour or are there any other animals you want to see?"

"No, I mean, we haven't seen the birds, but I don't really care to seem them, so we can leave after. If you want."

We've been here for close to three hours, but that's pretty much all the time you need here which is why we picked it. It was something fun to do and we both loved going to the zoo as kids, so why not? It was worth it. I've been having the best day. Since the minute he picked me up at 10 until now. I've been having SO much fun and I really don't want this day to end. Or leave. It's only 1, but I'm already getting sad about the day coming to and end.

Troy grabbed my hand as we made our way over to the safari tour which wasn't unusual behavior for today. Nope. We've been holding hands on and off for the past three hours and it just felt so natural. So good. I love it. I love holding his hand.

"Do you wanna get some lunch after this?"

"Yeah, sure," I shrug, "whatever you want to do is fine with me. I can always eat."

He laughs and I think it's because he knows it's true. I'm always stuffing my face around him and it's probably not smart, but whatever. "Okay. Maybe we can get some sushi. Or some take out from somewhere and just chill at my house. Or do you have anything to do?"

Nope. No plans. I cleared my day to hang out with him. "No."

I know it hasn't been that long, but I really like hanging out with him and I think he likes hanging out with me, too, which is good.

Yesterday, when I told him about Andrew, it kind of seemed like he was fishing for an answer... seeing if I had any feelings for him or anything. And I don't. No. I don't have any feelings for Andrew and I'm over the whole thing and telling him about it somehow made me want to move on... to another relationship. And I have no idea if it's going to lead to that, I've never seen Troy with a girlfriend before, but one can hope. I hope... I mean, if we're not headed in that direction, I don't really want to waste my time with him because I'm not that kind of girl. The kind of girl you just hang out with without any commitment.

But I know it's too early to ask him where this is going. And I like that we're dating. And feeling each other out, you know? Seeing if we are compatible and everything, which I like. I like dating him. But I do hope I'm the only girl he's dating.

I think I am. I mean, we've spent the past few weekend together so if I'm not the only one, well then I'm not sure how the hell he's doing it.

"This is so cool," I tell him, twenty minutes later when we're riding around looking at all the animals.

"I know, this is why I like this more than the regular zoo."

We're riding around this big open field and there are TONS of wild life animals here. And we're far enough from them, but we can still get a good look and they're all so cool. I love the zoo. And so this is great. And getting to see them like this, riding around in a car, hearing all about them from the driver.

It's so fun, I want to do this for the rest of the day. Just ride around and look at all the different kind of animals.

But it comes to a close and before I knew it, we're back in Troy's car, heading home.

"How have you never seen Clueless?!"

"I just haven't," Troy laughs as he merges onto the freeway, "I mean, I know it exists and it's some classic... but for girls?"

"Well, yeah," I can't believe he hasn't seen Clueless! Sure it's mainly a chick flick, but it's such a classic. And so funny. And I think anyone- guy or girl would find it funny. Like I know guys who have found it funny. "But it's just so funny. I feel like everyone should watch it at some point in their life."

He kind of chuckles and then looks over at me. "Oh, you're serious?"

Duh. I'm serious. "It's probably my favorite movie."

"Let's watch it, then," he tells me as he looks over his shoulder to switch lanes, "do you have it? Is it on Netflix?"

"Oh, um, yeah, it's on Netflix." Now I feel a bit bad. Like I don't want to force him to watch it. "But we don't have to watch it if you have no desire to."

"It's not that I didn't have a desire to, I just never got around to watching it," he tells me, "honestly, I don't mind. We can get some food, go back to my place and watch it if you want. Or watch whatever other movie you want. It doesn't really matter."

Okay, well, it seems like he's telling the truth. Like, he genuinely doesn't mind watching it. So I'm in. I'm so in because I really want to watch it now.

And close to an hour later, we're on his couch, TV on and our food in front of us.

"You sure?" I ask as I search for the movie on his Netflix account, "because I'm find watching some sort of show or something."

"Yes, I'm sure," he laughs, reaching for a fork, "just play it."

So I do. I play it and for the next hour and a half, we're on this couch, eating, watching the movie and cuddling.

Midway through the movie, when I heard Troy laughing at a part, I looked over at him and it just struck me again that I'm hanging out with Troy Bolton. The hottest guy in school. The most popular guy in school. And it feels... right, almost. Like, this isn't too crazy anymore, you know? It probably is. And maybe it's going to blow up in our faces, but I like where I'm at. I like that we're hanging out. And I want to keep hanging out with him. A lot. A lot more.

And when he caught me looking, he gave me a small smile and then opened his arms up so I can rest my head on his chest.

So for the next 40 minutes or so, I laid there and he laid there and we enjoyed the movie together.

But when it was over, and I saw the position I was in, something just came over me. Something inside of me told me to just ask him.

"Are you seeing anyone else?"

"What?" he immediately says before sitting up slightly, which causes me to get up as well.

Shit, this is embarrassing. But it's already out in the open. It's been a couple of weeks, but they've been a good couple of weeks and I really like hanging out with him, more than I thought I would, and I just need to know if I'm the only girl before I get too attached. "I don't know, are you dating other people?"

Troy kind of just sits there with no emotion on his face. And then a smile appears. "No, I'm not dating other people. I'm not 30."

"Well, I don't know!" I defend myself, "who really knows nowadays."

"Gabriella, I'm not," he looks right into my eyes.

And I know he's telling the truth. I mean, I haven't seen him talk to other girls at school and I've been paying attention. I've been noticing what's going on with him now. Before, I would pass by him and that would be that. But no, now I kind of just stare in his direction and see who he's talking to, who he's hanging out with during break and it sounds crazy and stalkerish, but it puts me at ease because he is the most popular guy in school, you know?

I believe him, though, and I'm glad I asked even if it was slightly embarrassing for a few moments.

"Sorry, I just... I don't know," I couldn't even come up with an answer to why I asked. Well, I can, but none that I want him to know.

"Are you seeing anyone else?" he turns the question back on me.

"What?" I spit out, laughing. "Are you crazy?"

But it doesn't look like he just asked a crazy question. He's acting as if he just asked a logical question. "No. Why can't you be seeing someone else, too? Are only guys supposed to be the shady ones in these kind of situations or are you not giving yourself enough credit?"

Shit. Fuck. This has completely backfired on me. I didn't know he would ask me it, too!

I obviously don't want to offend him and say that most guys are proven cheaters and that he is the most popular guy in school so obviously I'm a little wary. Because that's the better answer of the two. The most logical one, probably. Why would I be dating multiple people? Like I could get multiple people. Yeah, right. So I really don't know how to answer this without possibly offending him or anything. Ugh. This blows.

"No, you're right, I'm sorry," I decide to apologize, "that was um..."

"I get it," he tells me, "sorry, I shouldn't have thrown it back in your face, but I get it. I get where you're coming from, but honestly, it's just you."

Oh man. Butterflies in my stomach. Chills all over my body. And a smile on my face. I never expected this. To be getting butterflies from Troy Bolton. And to be sitting across from him with him basically telling me I'm the only girl for him. And the fact that I could have offended him, it made him react and throw it back on me and made me uncomfortable, but the second it did, he saw that, and totally just took it away. He took away the question, he apologized and he realized I meant no harm. And I really appreciated that. It was very nice of him.

I realized a bit and gave him a smile, "well, it's just you, too."

"Come here," he tells me with a small laugh.

God, he was so hot. I, of course, moved closer to him, and he gently grabbed my face and planted a kiss on my lips.

A kiss that turned into a night of making out, cuddling, and more kissing.

And I loved every second of it.

* * *

"We should have just gone to their game, it's not, like, it's that far," Brooke complained as she took the turkey out from her refrigerator.

"Well, it's too late now," I tell her as I slabbed some mayonnaise on one side of the bread, "besides, they're playing the last place team. We know it's probably not going to be that great of a game. Probably a little boring."

Brooke shrugged, "yeah, but I still like going. Don't you want to see your boyfriend play?"

I looked up at her immediately, "don't call him that."

She laughed, "why not? You guys are hanging out, you were with him ALL day yesterday, that you didn't want to come over and go swimming. I feel like it's just a matter of time before you guys become official, don't you think? You like him, he likes you, obviously..."

"I don't really want to think about it, Brooke," I grab some turkey and put it on top of the bread, "everything's good, but we just... we haven't talk about it."

"Well, why haven't you? It's been, like, what? Three weeks? Surely, it's come up."

"Kind of, yeah. I mean, there's no one else. We're only seeing each other. But I don't know. We're still getting to know each other."

Brooke looked like she understood. Her and Daniel were friends, but they still took a while to get to being boyfriend and girlfriend because they wanted to make sure it was right. So she can definitely relate. It's a different situation, but she could relate to me nonetheless.

I grab some cheese and put it on top of the turkey and then half an avocado and slice a few pieces on there before closing it with another slice of bread.

"That's good, I guess. Are you guys hanging out tonight?"

"I don't think so," I shrug, taking my sandwich with me to the table, "I haven't talked to him all day."

Maybe that's why I'm a little down. And Brooke called me out on it earlier when I first came over. She asked what was wrong, I look a bit sad, but I wasn't sad or anything. But now that it's been a few more hours, I think I am a bit sad. Maybe not sad, maybe confused or something. Like, I don't really understand why he hasn't texted me. He usually texts me. We usually text back and forth throughout the day, even on days when we hang out together.

And of course, Brooke felt vindicated. "I knew you were a bit down about something!"

"I'm not down about it," I try to argue, "we don't have a rule where we talk everyday, but I mean, we have, so I don't know, it's a bit weird he hasn't."

"Well, why don't you text him then? Ask how his game was or something."

There's an idea, but honestly, I've always hated being the one to text first. Granted, I only had this problem with Andrew and that only lasted a week or so, because then he took charge and would always text me when we were starting to get to know each other, so...

No. I don't think I can. What if he doesn't reply for some reason? I can't imagine he wouldn't, but still, I fucking hate rejection.

"He's going to reply," Brooke tells me, "why wouldn't he? You said you guys had the most perfect day yesterday. He's probably just busy. Getting ready for his game, playing his game, it's not a big deal."

"Yeah, maybe you're right," I think, maybe it's not a big deal, "I'm over thinking this, for sure."

Brooke laughs as she takes a bite of her sandwich, "for sure. Daniel and I can go a whole day without texting. That doesn't mean anything's wrong."

I guess so, but it's different situations. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Just text him. It doesn't even need to be a big deal. You don't even need to say hey or anything like that. Just a simple little text," she tells me, "just write, how was your game? Simple and straight to the point and it's nothing major."

"Okay," I give in, getting up and going over to my phone which was charging, "fine, I will."

I had my back to Brooke, my phone in my hand and I was ready to send the text. It shouldn't be this nerve wracking, but I've literally never texted him first and I know he'll reply, but still. I don't know. Maybe I'm just being crazy and weird. I'm over thinking this situation for sure.

Okay, it's now or never, Gabriella...

I went to his name in my text messages, opened it up and the last text he sent me was yesterday at 11:30 PM.

_Thanks for the great day. Let's do it again. Sweet dreams :) _

That's the last text message he sent me and that is why I have no reason to worry. I remind myself of what we talked about yesterday, smile to myself, and all of a sudden, have a sense of confidence. I like Troy Bolton. And he likes me.

So I type out a simple, _how was your game?_, text and send it to him.

And then I leave my phone there, go back to finish my sandwich with Brooke, and enjoy my day.


	18. Chapter 18: Troy

"Troy, your phone..."

I close the fridge and see that my phone was lighting up.

Briana handed it to me with a smirk on her face. "Well, if it isn't your girlfriend..."

Wait. What? Gabriella's texting me? She never texts me first... ever. I immediately grabbed it from her, turned around and read the text message to myself and it immediately made me cares how my game went. And that's good and bad for a few reasons.

I don't reply, put my phone on lock and then put it back on the counter before going back to the fridge to grab the lemonade I was about to take out.

"Why didn't you reply?" Briana asked me, getting up and coming over to the fridge as well.

"It's not a big deal," I shrug, walking away as she grabbed some strawberries, "I'll reply later or something. Why do you care?"

Briana closed the fridge, put the strawberries on the counter and then gave me a weird look. "Okay, this coming from the guy who three days ago would not put his phone down because you were too into texting her. And now you're at a point where you don't care about even texting her back?"

I want to text her back. I want to talk to her.

But I'm at a point now where it's a terrible idea. I should have never let it get to this place and I hate myself for it.

"Don't worry about it, Bri," I grab a cup from the cupboard, "Gabriella and I... just don't worry about it."

"Why don't you talk to me?" she sounds mad, "I'm your best friend! I know you have Matt and okay, whatever, he's a guy, but I'm here, too, and you can talk to me. We tell each other everything. Why are you so hot and cold with this girl? One minute, you're crazy about her, the next, you're trying to avoid her. I just don't really get it. I thought you really liked her..."

"YES!" I basically scream, "yes, I do! And that's the fucking problem, Bri, I really like her and it's fucking crazy that she somehow feels the same way, but that's for sure going to wear off soon for her and now only am I protecting myself, but her, too. Because she's too good for me and she's off to school..."

Briana immedateliy cut me off, "shut the fuck up. You can't use that as an excuse to be a bitch."

An excuse? It's not an excuse. It's the fucking truth. "You don't know anything about her so I don't expect you to understand."

"If she keeps hanging out with you, if she texts you, if she has a good time when she's with you, let that be," she tells me, "she obviously doesn't think she's too good for you. So get that out of your mind and just be with her."

"She doesn't know it yet," I tell her, "sooner or later, she's going to realize it and I'll be in too deep probably."

"Okay, so this is about you? You honestly want to protect yourself from getting hurt again?"

Sure. I guess. I mean, her, too. "And her. I'd probably be a shit boyfriend. She was with some guy for two years. And they seemed happy. How in the hell am I going to live up to that, Bri? Please explain."

She didn't say anything, but shake her head. I know I may be acting dramatic and annoying, but it's the truth. She is too good for me.

And sooner or later, I'm gong to mess things up. She's going to realize other guys have more to offer her. And that's going to be the end of us. So why not get out before it's too soon? I mean it this time. I seriously feel like I have to stay away. I want to stay away. No, I don't want to stay away, that's a lie. But it'll be best for the both of us. And I probably never should have asked her o hang out that one Friday night. That was probably a mistake, for sure.

"You know what, it's your life. I don't know this girl, but if she's too good as you say, then she wouldn't have hung out with you in the first place."

"Whatever," I say because she makes a valid point, but I want to ignore it.

I'm serious this time... I have to cut Gabriella out of my life before things become too much.

Before I'm in too deep because right now, I'm not.

* * *

"Dude," Matt grabs my arm to keep me from falling, "what the fuck."

"Sorry," I apologize, regaining my balance. "Yeah, sorry, wasn't looking where I was going."

I was, though. I was looking where I was going. I just saw Gabriella coming so I tried hiding before Matt, but I stepped on the back of his shoe and I don't really know what else happened. All I know is that I don't think she saw me, which is good. Mission accomplished.

Matt gave me a weird look as we walked to class, "you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm good," I looked over my shoulder and saw Gabriella walking the opposite direction with her friend Alexis.

"Then fucking walk in a straight line."

I laughed and paid attention to what was in front of me now, easing u a bit. I'm such an asshole. I should talk to her about things. I shouldn't just ignore her and not text back and be a complete dick. But I honestly don't know what to really tell her. Oh hey, sorry, I don't want to get too attached to you? Because that's so stupid. Someone who doesn't want to get attached to someone would put dating off completely. So it'll come off so phony. And I definitely don't want that. So I have no idea what to do. Eventually, I'm going to have to talk to her, I know that.

But for now... ignoring her kind of seems like the perfect plan.

So I do for most of the morning... until we had class together. Math. Great.

I walked in and she was already sitting down. And before I made it to my seat, I started talking to my friend. And while doing so, I looked up at her and she was just sitting there, not looking my direction, looking down at her phone with a smile on her gorgeous face.

I knew she wasn't texting some guy, but for some reason, that smile got me and it made me just want to walk over there and kiss the shit out of her.

So I walked out of the room and headed down to my coaches room and just sat in there.

"Please don't make me go back," I begged him.

"Tthen you're gonna have to grade these for me," he hands me a stack of math tests since he teaches Algebra as well.

Fine. Fair enough. Grading these math tests is way better than sitting behind Gabriella in class and looking at the back of her head.

And then lunch rolled around and I managed to not see her at all. My car was parked out front today so I met Matt and my other friend there and we went to grab a bite to eat at Subway. And the coast was clear there, thank God.

Until after school.

"Hey," I tell her because I couldn't not. She was right THERE.

"Oh hey," she turns around from fishing for her car keys in her purse, "thought you weren't here today."

Oh my gosh. So she didn't see me at all? Fuck. I could have gotten away with it had I just hid behind a car and waited til she got in hers? Fuck. "Oh um, yeah, I just missed a couple classes. What's up? Sorry I didn't text back yesterday, I was sleeping and... but we won."

She gave me a small smile, "yeah, yeah, Daniel told Brooke, but it's fine. I figured."

Shit she's making this incredibly hard. How the hell am I going to keep away when she's so nice and so beautiful. "What'd you do yesterday?"

"I just ran some errands, hung out with Brooke. Did some homework. Not much, actually."

"Oh," I started to say but then my phone rang.

It was my mom, which was the perfect excuse to pick up and pretend like I needed to get somewhere. And I needed to get somewhere fast. You know?

So that's what I did. I answered the phone, my mom actually did need a favor, but it could have waited, and I acted like I was in a hurry. So when I hung up, Gabriella already knew that our little chit chat was over and I had to go.

"Your mom?" she asks with a smile as she holds on to her keys.

"Yeah, um, she needs me to pick up something at the pharmacy right now," I tell her, "so I should get going."

"Okay, yeah," she says, looking a little bit clueless.

I think she thinks I may kiss her now or something and God, I want to, but I know if I do, everything's going to change and I'm back to square one. I'll be back to thinking this could actually work out or something. And I don't want to go back there because it's not true. I don't think this could work.

Reaching for my keys in my pocket, I give her a smile and then look down at my phone again pretending like I have a class. "Sorry, I really have to go..."

And with that, I was off. And I could feel her just standing there, not moving, not getting into her car.

I felt like the biggest asshole just then. A complete douche.

Because I still really, really like her.


	19. Chapter 19: Gabriella

"Are you okay?' my mom asks as she serves me some lemonade.

"I'm fine, why?" I look up at her.

She shrugs her shoulders as she headed back to the fridge, "I don't know. You're just awfully quiet and you usually have a lot to say. Plus, you didn't want to go with Alexis to get sushi. You love sushi. And Alexis. Are you okay? Are you not feeling well? Are you and Troy..."

Ughhhhh. All these questions... "I'm fine, mom. I feel fine. Troy's there. And I'm just not hungry. I have a lot of homework to do."

"Geez, I'm just asking. There's no need for you to be all snippy towards me."

"You're right, I'm sorry," I close my textbook and give her a small smile, "I'm just... I am fine, I'm just a little bit confused because I don't know if Troy's kinda avoiding me or our paths just didn't really cross today."

My mom looked like she was happy I was sharing things with her so she stopped what she was doing and came over and stood in front of me, the counter separating us, "why do you think he's avoiding you? You guys haven't hung out the past few days?"

No. Or talked. How freaking annoying is that?

We had the most perfect day on Saturday. We hung out all day and laughed, kissed, talked, everything. And then Sunday, he barely talks to me which I let go because he had a game. And Monday when he wasn't in class, I thought he was absent or whatever, but when I saw him after school and he came up to me, I thought things were fine. Until a minute later when he left me sanding there with no kiss or hug goodbye. And then today, nothing. He was in class, but he either avoided me the rest of the day or he just had a lot going on. I'm thinking he's avoiding me, but I don't want to jump to conclusions.

I don't want to jump to conclusions because I don't want to be sad about it. Not because I don't want to accuse him of something.

Because I pretty much think that he is avoiding me and I can't figure out why.

"No, and that's fine, I don't need to hang out everyday after school," I tell her, "but I mean, at least text me. Or come up to me at school and talk to me for a bit, you know? Is that so hard? Even if he's busy, sending one quick text that says, hey, I'm busy, but I'll talk to you when I get the chance, or something."

"So what, do you think he's just over you?" my mom doesn't ever sugarcoat anything. Nope. Always straightforward with her words. "Do you think you did something to make him ignore you?"

Oh wow. I didn't think of that. Like, maybe he's mad at me or something. Right? That could be it.

But then I think about it. And I can't, for the life of me, come up with any reason why he would be mad at me so no. Never mind. Scratch that.

"Maybe," I shrug, "who knows. All I know is I'm not dumb, I now he's ignoring me and I want to know why."

"Then ask him tomorrow. Or call him. I know you guys are just dating, but if it's only you two in the picture, you need to have a conversation about it. You can't just be in the dark, you know? I would like to see this become something because I really do think you like him, but he can't just be walking around ignoring you when there's two of you in this. You have a right to know whatever is going on."

She's right. She's absolutely right. Oh my gosh. "You're so fucking right, mom."

Even though I complimented her, she still did not approve of my language. "Don't say tat. But really, don't let him off easy. If it was one day, okay, maybe he had something going on, he couldn't call you, but two whole days at school with barely anything. No. That's just not right."

"It isn't right," I agree, "and this isn't anything new. He's done this before. Make me think that he's over it, but then he comes out of nowhere and asks me to hang out, and I just get suckered in."

"Don't do that," she shakes her head at me, "he's going to think he has control of you and he doesn't."

"But his eyes are just so blue and he's so cute and smells so good and he's so fun to hang out with," I groan, "it's so hard to say no to hanging out."

My mom laughed and rolled her eyes as she grabbed an apple from the fruit basket and headed over to the sink to wash it. "I get it. But if you don't say anything and you just forgive him and you guys are fine, the next time he does it, he's going to think you're gonna forgive him anyway so it's not a big deal, but it is. He can't go around ignoring you for days. Even hours. I'm not saying you guys need to be in constant communication, but if you guys both want some sort of relationship out of this, you at least need to be on the same page about things. Don't go easy on him."

I don't want to go easy on him, but it's easier said than done.

Because I know those blue eyes are going to sucker me in when I march up to him tomorrow.

And I don't know if I can handle it.

* * *

I had to just confront Troy and get it over with.

Tomorrow, it'll probably be the same thing so I shouldn't put it off. I should just do it.

In math, he walked right past me, didn't say anything and then just sat there for the whole period, which is fine. I get it. We're in class. But at lunch when we were two feet away from each other, nothing. Absolutely nothing. And it just boggles my mind how someone can do this, honestly.

It's not like we hooked up at a party and it's awkward so he's ignoring me.

No. We've been dating. Hanging out. Having fun. It's been weeks. And This isn't how you treat someone that you've been hanging out with for a couple of weeks. So I have to confront him. I have to get to the bottom of why he's ignoring me. Of why he's ignoring me but doesn't look mad at me, you know? So obviously it's not something I did to upset him. It's something that I have no idea about and it's so stupid.

"You coming?" Alexis asks me as I step off to the side.

"No, go ahead. I, um, I'm waiting for Troy," I tell her, "I have to talk to him about something."

Alexis looks at me like she doesn't think it's a good idea to do it now, but when the fuck else am I going to do it? I have to. "Okay. Call me later."

I tel her I will and then I watch her walk away to the parking lot while I stood here at the gate. I knew Troy was going to come out of here soon. He always does. It'll be any minute. And at that minute, I'll jump in front of him and ask why the fuck he's acting the way he is.

Okay, maybe not so aggressively. But I will talk to him today if it's the last thing I do.

Finally after a minute of standing there and waiting, I see him coming towards the gate and I'm so glad he's by himself.

"Gabriella," he says as if we're in a different city and he's surprised he's running into me or something. "Hey."

"Can I talk to you?"

He looks around and then looks back at me, "sure, what's up?"

I laugh because it's all so stupid. Him pretending to act like he has no idea what I'm going to talk to him about. Why is he acting this way? If he's over me then he's over me and let's move on from it. But at least let me know! Give me the decency of an explanation as to why you're being distant.

"I'm a big girl, if you're over me, you're over me," I get right to it, "there's no need to avoid me."

"I'm not avoiding you," he says, looking uncomfortable.

"You're avoiding me," I tell him, "you haven't texted me in days, you walk right past me. And you're standing here acting like it's weird that we're talking or something and I just don't get it. The last time we hung out, I thought... I just don't really get it and if you're over it, okay..."

It looked like he felt bad and that he wanted to say something, but he didn't know where to start or how to word it.

And then after a moment of just standing there in complete silence, he spoke up. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah, you're sorry. And then in two weeks, you'll be sorry again," I listen to my mom's advice and just go for it. To just call him out on his shit. "I'm not interested in this hot and cold game. I like you and if you like me too, let's hang out. Let's do this. Talk to me if I've done something to upset you. Talk to me when you want some space for whatever reason. Don't just shut me out. But if you're over it, fine, tell me that, too. Don't make me figure it out on my own."

"You're right, you're absolutely right." He looks around probably to see if anyone's listening, but they're not, we're basically alone. "I'm not... I'm not over you, I just... I don't know. I'm an idiot. And hearing those words... I'm sorry."

Ugh and this is the part where I feel like forgiving him and just moving on. Why! Why does he have this spell over me...

But I gotta push it a little more. "I can't do this hot and cold thing. I don't know if it's anything that's happened or whatever, but I like you."

He gives me a small smile and comes closer to me. "I'm just being an idiot and really, I can't back up my actions, but I'm not over this, I do like you and I'm sorry. It's stupid because I love hanging out with you."

"I love hanging out with you, too," I tell him, "and that's why I'm not okay with you ignoring me."

"Yeah, I know and I'm sorry," he says once again, "let's hang out. Let's go grab some food. Let's go back to my house. And just hang out together."

And just like that, everything is fine again.

I'm not sure if I told him everything. I'm not sure if I gave it to him hard enough. I'm not sure if I'm letting him off easy.

All I know is that I'm standing here, he's looking at me, and I just feel in my heart, in my gut, that there was no malice behind it. There wasn't this big thing and he was just being annoying or something. I don't know. I could be dead wrong.

But for now, all I want to do is hang out with him. And kiss him. And talk to him. Have him make me laugh like he always seems to do.

"Okay," I tell him, a bit mad that he has some spell over me.

"Okay," he repeats my words with a smile before grabbing my hand.

And then hand in hand, we're off to the parking lot and he's showing me off to everyone who will look. And that's when I realize that any thoughts of him maybe wanting to keep this on the down low are out of the window. He doesn't care who sees. And I don't care who sees, either.

I like Troy Bolton and I want to keep this going. I want to keep hanging out with him and having fun.

And I think things are going to be just fine.


	20. Chapter 20: Troy

Gabriella's right. She's absolutely right.

If I like her, I should hang out with her. She likes me, too. She actually likes me.

So whatever, I pushed everything off to the side and just listened to her. I listened when she said she likes me and wants to hang out with me. And that's the only thing I need to listen to. Not Grant of the stupid voice inside my head every other day. No. Just Gabriella.

"How come I've never ran into your parents?" Gabriella asks me.

"I don't know," I slick my hair back, "they're always out and about on weekends. Weekdays, they work or whatever, I don't really know."

She looks like she's thinking about something, but then kind of shakes her head and smiles at me. "Yeah, that makes sense."

I'm DEFINITELY not keeping them apart from each other. My mom would love nothing more than to meet her. But it's worked out in my favor. Because lately, I don't want to be around my parents. All they talk about is school. It's driving me insane. But I don't want her to think I don't want them to meet. "Come over fr dinner next Saturday. I'm sure my mom would love to meet you."

"Really?" she grabs the noodle that's floating around us in the pool, "dinner with your parents?"

"Yeah," I laugh, "isn't that what you want?"

"I don't know if it's what I want," she laughs, climbing onto the thing, "I was just curious because it's been weeks, but um, yeah, okay, that sounds good."

Okay, does she or does she not? "Well, yeah, come to dinner. I'll have my mom make her specialty ribs and mashed potatoes and you can talk to them all you want. Or not. We can just eat, they can ask you a few questions and we can bounce."

She splashed some water in my face, "no, we are not going to just bounce if she takes the time to make ribs. Those take time, you know..."

"Oh, I know," I laugh, wiping my face, "but really, you should come over."

"Okay," she smiles at me, "I will."

And then for the next twenty minutes, we splashed around the pool, kissed, splashed around some more and ya know, maybe made out. But I mean, it's so hard not to. She's so beautiful. And she's SUCH a good kisser, something I didn't really expect since she's only kissed a couple of guys, I don't know. But she is. And I love kissing her. I love being around her. I love her being in my arms. I just love the whole thing about being with her.

Maybe this is going to be okay, right? Maybe Gabriella and I can actually make it work no matter my insecurities.

Because she seems just as into me as I am into her.

* * *

Man, Gabriella looked so good today that I couldn't believe it's taken me this long to make a move.

I leaned against the lockers outside the admissions office and waited until I saw her.

And the minute I did, I pushed myself off, walked up to her, gave her a kiss and pulled her away to the quad away before anyone could see us. I wanted some time with her. I wanted to hang out with her. Right now. At 10:30 AM. Because I couldn't wait until after school to kiss her.

"Troy," she giggles, "Troy, I can't. I have a call slip to go..."

"To go see your counselor, I know," I tell her as I sit down on a table and put her in between my legs, "I might have had my friend send you that on my behalf because I really wanted to see you."

She looked at me and I don't think she really believed me. "Wait, what? So this isn't real? I don't have to see Mrs. G?"

I shake my head and shoot her a smile, in hopes of it making her unmad at me if she is mad, "No, you don't have to see Mrs. G. I wanted to see you."

"You'll see me next period," she points out with a small smile so I don't think she's mad.

"I know, but I won't be able to do this," I lean in and kiss her a couple of times, "and then lunch rolls around and you're with your friends and after school seems so far away and I just didn't think I could go that long without telling you how beautiful you looked today and giving you a kiss."

"Five minutes," she tells me, "then I really have to get back."

"Okay," I lean in and kiss her once more.

And then she sits down on top of the table with me and pushes her hair back out of her face.

I can't stop staring at her. She's looking out, probably on the look out for teachers because she's cute like that, and she fact that she's only wearing a bit of makeup makes me happy. She's a natural beauty so she doesn't need that gunk. Her hair is in soft waves, which is her natural hair. She's wearing this jacket with jeans and she paired it with some flats and I don't know, she just looks better than she did yesterday. And I liked what she was wearing yesterday, too.

"What are you doing for lunch today?" she asks me, turning her body slightly towards me, "are you going off?"

"Probably," I shrug, "kinda craving a sandwich, but I don't know yet. What about you?"

"I think we're going to Lexie's house, her mom made lasagna yesterday and there's a bunch leftover," she tells me, turning her whole body towards me now.

God. I just want to make out with her right here, right now. But we're at school. It's inappropriate. I know that. And she definitely knows that which means she definitely wouldn't be on board. And I think we only have a few minutes left anyway. But more than that, I just wanted to sit here and talk to her.

I can talk to her for hours. It's crazy.

Last night, we talked on the phone for an hour and ten minutes.

Isn't that crazy? I called so she could walk me through this math question and once I was done with that, she told me a story about her night and then we started talking about funny things that has happened to us and I don't know... it went from 10 minutes of talking to an hour.

"Lasagna sounds good," I tell her, but I don't want her to think I'm trying to score an invite so I change the subject, "tomorrow night, let's do something."

She smiles at me and then reaches for my face all of a sudden, right under my eye, and takes an eyelash off, "okay, what do you want to do?"

I shrug, "anything, really. Just getting dibs on you before your friends."

She laughed and looks away for a second and the minute she turns back to me, I steal a kiss, but then let her speak, "my parents are gone for the weekend. You can come over if you want. We can cook something, or order, whatever. Watch a movie."

Fuck. I then realized tomorrow night is my buddy's party. And I wanted to go to that. Shit. What do I do now? "Yeah, okay, sounds good."

It did sound good. I'm not going to lie. The idea of having the house to ourselves, her cooking or whatever, and then just laying on the couch and watching some movies. But now I'm double booked.

And I don't know what to do about it. If I should do anything about it. Whatever. I like hanging with Gabriella so I will.

"I should get back to class," she tells me because it's definitely been more than five minutes.

"Okay," I tell her as we both get off the table and walk back into school.

We walk down the hall and then turn right and she has to go one way and I have to go the other way so when I make sure it's clear, I grab her by the waist and give her a kiss goodbye even though I wish I was giving her more than one kiss and it wasn't taking place at school, in the hallway.

She smiled at me, gave me one more kiss and then turned to walk away, "I'll see you next period."

God, she was so beautiful. What is she doing to me?!


	21. Chapter 21: Gabriella

"You guys aren't going to do anything, right?" Alexis looks up from her magazine, looking a bit concerned after I tell her Troy's coming over tonight.

I made a face at her and shook my head, "are you crazy? He's not even my boyfriend. No way."

She raises her hand in defense and then closes the magazine and tosses it to the side, "I don't know. You know how guys are. I know you invited him over, but I just hope you're not giving him the wrong impression, like you want to do it."

Am I? No. He knows I'm not that kind of girl, right? "I seriously doubt he thinks I'm that kind of girl. And if he does try, well, then I know what he's in it for."

"True," Alexis agrees with me, "but I mean, you're the one who knowingly started dating someone who's popular and stuff."

"Yeah, but that doesn't..." gah, I can't find the right words, "I don't know, Lex, it's not happening."

"Fine, fine, it's not happening."

I know I'm half to blame if this thing blows up in my face, I know that. Well, maybe full blame. I don't know his number, but I definitely know he's done it with someone. He's had to have. I've seen him make out with 2 different girls at separate parties. There's no way that's all he's ever done, you know?

Whatever. I don't want to think about it, really. His past is his past.

Now... should I keep this outfit on or change into something else? It's tricky because we're not going anywhere. He's coming over here so me changing into another outfit could be a bit weird or something. I don't know. I'm nervous and confused.

"What's wrong with what you have on?" Alexis asks me as if she's reading my mind, but I know it's because I'm rummaging through my clothes.

"I don't know, should I change or keep this on?" I peek my head out of my closet.

She laughs at me and knows I'm probably feeling nervous, "I mean, you can get comfy... yoga pants and a sweatshirt but that would kind of give him the vibe that, I don't know, you want to relax and stuff. You know what I mean? So keep the outfit, but lose the jacket."

Yep. She's right. I'm fine with what I'm wearing. The jacket is a bit too much for being inside. "Okay, yeah, lose the jacket. Is the shirt okay?"

Again, she's laughing at me, but not in a mocking way, "oh my gosh, you really like this guy, huh?"

"No!" I blurt out, "I mean, I don't know, Lex. It hasn't been that long and I might be making the biggest mistake, I might be the biggest idiot, but it feels nice hanging out with him. He's nice. And funny... Okay, yes, I do like him. I really like him."

"Then who cares," she shrugs, "don't listen to anyone who tells you otherwise. Like Kenna who told me she thinks you're going to get hurt. And she might be absolutely right, but if you feel good when you're around him, trust that and just let things be. If it fails, it fails. You pick yourself up and move on."

She's absolutely right. I'm terrified of getting hurt, that I might be making the biggest mistake of my life hanging out with Troy Bolton, but if it ends, if we don't have a happy ending then who cares? It's not the end of the world.

God. I love my friends. They were always there to give me the perspective I need.

"You're right," I take my jacket off and hang it in my closet before coming out so we can talk face to face, "I'm not going to stress about it."

"Good, you shouldn't," she tells me, "plus Jackson and Kelly have been dating for 5 months now and Jackson is Mr. Popular, hooked up with so many girls and look at him now. Completely in love with Kelly."

Again, good point. But they might be the exception. "I'm just going to play it by ear, not think about it too much."

Alexis got off my bed and went to retrieve her phone that was plugging into the charger by my window sill, "and we'll see how things go."

Yes, we will. Hopefully good.

Because right now, the way I'm feeling about Troy Bolton is something I can't turn off.

* * *

Troy's in the same outfit he was wearing at school so I'm glad I didn't change because that would have been slightly embarrassing. He probably would have given me a weird look or something. So thank you Alexis for helping me out.

"What's in the bag?" I ask him as I lead him to the kitchen.

"Oh just some stuff to make dinner," he casually tells me as if that were the plan when it wasn't. "You like chicken Alfredo?"

Wait. Okay. I did say something about maybe cooking something but I didn't think we'd actually do it. We're teenagers, first of all. Second of all, I'm super lazy and third of all, I wanted some pizza so I had no intention of making anything tonight even though I do know how to cook and I do like to cook.

But actually, chicken Alfredo sounds so much better than pizza. Yum. "I love chicken Alfredo."

"Good," he smiles at me as he puts the bag down on the counter and takes out all the ingredients. The chicken, the pasta, the Alfredo sauce, some Parmesan cheese. "It shouldn't take too long. You hungry?"

"I can wait," I tell him and it's true because I had some fruit not too long ago before Alexis left, "you cook?"

Troy shrugged as he organized everything, "eh, it's not a thing I do, but I can."

Impressive. I like that. I feel like guys see cooking as such a girl thing that they stray away from it, but it's not. It's a people thing.

As he was fixing everything up, I went and got a bowl so he could put the chicken in and wash it. And then I got a saucepan where he could boil the pasta. He doesn't know my way around my kitchen so I'll help him out. Even though he could help himself to whatever look around the place, I don't really care.

"Do you want me to wash the chicken for you?" I offer.

He looks over at me and gives me a small smile, "No, I'm cooking everything for you. You don't have to lift a finger."

Wow. Okay. No guy has ever cooked for me. Not even Andrew. And we were together for two years. Ha. The closest thing that came to it was getting crab legs and bringing them home and he just made his own sauce for it. Or something like that.

But no. Troy is full on cooking for me. And I'm excited about it. I appreciate it. And I can't wait to taste it. I LOVE chicken Alfredo.

"If you don't mind that I find my way around your kitchen then you can go watch TV or something," he tells me, "and I'll call you when it's ready."

Oh my gosh. It's like he's reading my mind. "You can help yourself to whatever."

He looks up at me, gives me a smile and then goes back to getting the chicken out of the container and putting them in the bowl to wash. And I actually did have to go to my neighbors house really quick because I told her I'd help her with something. And I do have a show tivo'd that I could watch while he's doing that. So yeah, I think I will give him his space.

"I'll be in the living room if you need me," I give him a smile, grab my phone and walk out of the kitchen.

I head over to my neighbors for about twenty minutes or so and then come back and I don't think he even realized I was gone. but I heard him in the kitchen so he was definitely still in there. No need to check on him.

And then I flopped down on the couch and played a recorded episode of Grey's Anatomy and watched the whole thing with no interruptions, which made me smile and think about how last night when I was watching the show on live time, I had to hit pause on it because Troy called me. And we talked for an hour.

But this time around, he's in my kitchen making me dinner. And that made me so happy.

Before I knew it, Troy was calling me.

I walk into the kitchen and everything smelled AMAZING. It smelled so good. And I couldn't believe he was done. I mean, it doesn't take long at all, but the way I think he was going to make the chicken takes a little while so I was surprised it was already ready for us to eat.

But I wasn't complaining. I was hungry now and I wanted to sit down and talk to him, hang out and eat.

"it smells so good," I tell him, walking further into the kitchen where I now can see how it turned out, "and it looks even better."

"Thanks," he laughed as he threw a rag onto the counter, "I hope it is."

He grabbed the bowl of food while I grabbed some silverware and place mats and we walked over to the living room. We placed everything down and then went back to the kitchen to grab cups and something to drink, and then some napkins.

And then we both sat down, looked at each other with goofy grins and then he began to serve me some pasta.

"Thank you," I take my plate away and set it down in front of me, "I haven't had this in forever."

"Good," he smiles, "I was debating whether making this or some enchiladas because I make some pretty mean enchiladas, but I was craving this so please don't tell me you would have rather wanted enchiladas."

I laughed and shook my head as I picked up my fork, "no, no, I would have been fine with either, but I like this a bit more."

We both dug into our food and he looked up at me, I think wanting to see what I thought of it and I think stuffing my face in no more than three bites is a bit of an indication of what I think about it. It's SO good. Best homemade chicken Alfredo I've ever had, that for sure.

"This is so good," I tell him, "seriously. Where'd you learn to make this?"

"My grandma," he chuckles, "I feel like she cooks nonstop so I would just watch her all the time and when I got to be a certain age, she'd show me exactly how to do it. So I know my way around a kitchen."

"That's good," I take a drink of my coke, "every girl loves a man who can cook."

Ew. Did I really just say that? Ugh. How embarrassing! But he didn't seem to mind. In fact, I think I'm making him blush a bit which is so cute to see.

He took a drink of his soda and then turned to me as he took a couple more bites of his pasta, "so how was your day?"

"It was good," I tell him, "aced my Chemistry test which i thought I was going to fail so I was happy about that. Lexie came over, we watched four episodes of this new show we're in and now I'm here... so yeah, it was good."

"I'm glad," he smiles at me and I can't get over it. He's constantly smiling at me, I'm constantly smiling at him and ah, it gives me butterflies.

"What about you?"

"Oh, it was pretty good. Not as good as right now, though."

Seriously. He could feed me so many lines and half of the can be bullshit, but they still make me smile like crazy in the inside. He's not shy at all. And I really like that. At the beginning of my relationship with Andrew, it was like pulling teeth to get him to talk about how he was feeling. But with Troy, it's completely the opposite. He takes it upon himself to tell me I look good or to tell me I smell nice. Little things like that. And stuff like, I like hanging out with you. It feels really nice. And I'm happy he's not shy about that whatsoever.

"What time's your game tomorrow?"

"2, I believe," he answers, stuffing some more food in his mouth, "you coming?"

"I want to," I nod, "yeah, I'll see. Hopefully."

He takes another drink and then looks over at me, "good. You should I think you might be my good luck charm."

What is he talking about? They've won games when I wasn't there. He's scored goals when I wasn't there. I mean, I was at the first game and he didn't score and at that second game. "What are you talking about? You score when I'm not even there."

"Yeah, but still, I like the idea of you being a good luck charm," he shrugs, "and maybe I'm also telling you that so you could come to all the games."

"So you're lying to me?" I ask with a small laugh.

He laughed too, "okay, fine. But honestly, you should try to make it."

I will. I will try to make it. I want to go. And I think I will if nothing else comes up- family wise. "No, yeah, I'll be there, hopefully."

"Good," he smiles at me.

Yeah, good. This night was good. And I'm so happy he was here with me right now.

* * *

We ate, we made some cookies I had in the fridge and then we watched a movie. Well, we're watching a movie. But we're not really watching it if you know what I mean. Ha. Okay, no, yeah, we're watching it, but there was a time where we didn't for like five minutes straight.

God, he's such a good kisser that it almost makes me wonder how good he is elsewhere, ya know?

But I quickly stopped thinking about that because I can't. No way. There's no way I'm going to have sex with him now. This soon into this relationship.

"I can't believe you've seen this movie dozens of times, but you're laughing at it as if it's the first time," Troy laughs as he sits up a little on the couch, "do you actually still find it that funny?"

"Yes," I laugh thinking about the part that just passed, "Superbad is one of the funniest movies, ever. How can you NOT laugh still?"

"No, no, I am, but like a small chuckle. I feel like you're full on laughing."

Okay, maybe so. And maybe that's a bit embarrassing, but I couldn't help it. It was funny. And I couldn't help, but laugh. "Whatever. Don't make fun of me. It's a really funny movie. There's not one movie you've watched so many times but still laugh?"

Troy thought about it and shrugged, "well, yeah, but not full on. Or not like it's my first time watching it."

"Whatever," I tell him as I also sit up a bit.

"It's cute," he reassures me, "a bit weird. But cute."

I look over at him and his blue eyes are looking back at me and God, they're so blue. I get lost in them. It's impossible not to. He's so beautiful.

And then he leaned over and kissed me. And I cupped his face and pushed against his lips, deepening the kiss. Here we go... another make out session

But no. That didn't happen. He stopped. He stopped kissing me. He backed away, gave me a smile, put some hair behind my ear and then gave me a small peck before getting up. "I have to go now. I told my buddy I'd go to his party and it's getting late."

"Oh," is all I spit out because I'm so surprised. He's going to a party RIGHT NOW?

"That's okay, right?" he asks me as he walks around the couch and grabs his jacket that's hanging off of it.

"You don't need my permission," I stand up.

He looks at me and chuckles a bit, but then realizes the look I have on my face isn't exactly pleasant because why would it be? He's ditching me at 10 pm to go to some party. And at least he didn't lie and say he was going home, but still. He's leaving me and going to a stupid party. Ugh.

After putting his jacket on, he came over to me, grabbed me by the shoulders and leaned down a bit, trying to make eye contact, "hey, you okay?"

"I'm fine," I look up at him, "have fun at your party."

"Hey, I'm sorry. My buddy invited me and I mean, I've been here for hours now."

"No, yeah, yeah, go and have fun," I tell him even though I don't think I mean it. If we didn't have plans and he wanted to go to a party, FINE. Knowing his reputation, it wouldn't sit well with me, but I wouldn't be mad about it. God no. I'm rational. I'm understanding. But this is just... he made plans with me. He never told me he had other plans and he could only stay a bit. No. He made me dinner, he watched a movie with me. "Really. Have fun."

He looked skeptical. Like, I'm lying about not being mad. And yeah, I am. But I don't want to fight with him. I don't have the energy right now. I'm tired.

I walked him over to the front door, opened it and before he walked out, he looked back at me. "I had a good time tonight."

"Mhm," I tell him with a smile so he wouldn't stand here and try to convince me not to be mad at him. I'll just have him thinking everything is fine for now even though it's clearly not. I AM MAD.

"Goodnight," he smiles back and then leans forward and kisses me.

And once he's out, I shut the door, close my eyes and take a deep breath. This is what I was afraid of and it's all happening now. Ugh.

I went upstairs, ran a bath and laid in there for what felt like hours. This night went from great to bad real quick.

Fuck Troy Bolton.


	22. Chapter 22: Troy

I knew she was mad but I wanted to ignore it because not only did my buddy want me to go to this party, I also wanted to go. I wanted to go and have fun and see friends I haven't seen in a while. Friends from my old soccer team. People I went to middle school with. And it was supposed to be a fun night.

Gabriella and I were together since 6. That's four hours. I mean, what does she want from me?

And I don't really regret going because it was a fun night and it was really good seeing people I haven't seen in a while.

But maybe I regret going a little bit because right now, I'm basically chasing Gabriella down after school and telling her I want to talk.

"I'm in a hurry," she tells me, "I have things to do."

"Like what?" I ask her, catching up to her and standing in front of her so she couldn't lie to me. So she could see it in my eyes that I really am sorry about going to that party. "Look, I'm sorry."

"I don't care, Troy," she tries to push past me, but I don't let her, "I have to go."

Gently grabbing her and making her stay still, I look her right in the eyes and apologize. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for going to a party, okay?"

She looks at me, really looks at me and then shakes her head and looks away, "it's not about the damn party. I don't fucking care that you went to a party. I'm upset that you lied to me. You ditched me. You left me. You left when we made plans for the night."

She's right. She's absolutely right. "I know, I'm sorry. I double booked. And I feel bad about it. I do, but please just forgive me."

"Was the party that important?" she asks me, stepping back, "you came to me first. Why couldn't you go to the party and then end the night with me?"

"What party starts at 6?" I chuckle, "wait, are you serious? Come on."

She rolled her eyes and then tried to make her way past me again, but I held her back from doing so. "Let me go."

I let her go because I wasn't like that. I wasn't going to force her, but once I did, she just stood there, not trying to get by me. "I'm sorry. My buddy invited me and I forgot all about it because I wanted to hang out with you and I double booked. And I only went for, like, an hour. Nothing... nothing happened."

"Nothing happened?" she laughs a bit, "oh thank you. Thanks so much for thinking about me."

"Stop," she was mocking me and I didn't appreciate it. "You shouldn't be mad. I mean, okay, you should. But I made time. I can hang out with you and then go out and still have fun. And at least I told you where I was going and you didn't find out and it was some shady thing. That's gotta count for something."

I expected her to say something right away, but no.

She just stood there, not saying anything for what felt like a long time. A looooong time. She just kind of stared at me and it was scaring me a bit.

And then she let out a small laugh, along with a head shake, "Oh, I'm sorry you can't have fun with me. Parties are the only place that let you have fun. My bad. Here let me save you some time... go to all the parties you want, have so much fun and don't worry about me, okay?"

What? No. No. No. "This is all coming out wrong, Gabriella, please, let's just move past this. Let's go out to lunch and forget all this..."

Her face softened a bit so I think she was going to give in and say yes because I mean, if she's feeling half of what I feel for her, then she'd forget about everything and just go with me. I can't explain this connection.

But as soon as she's about to say something, Karlie Hopkins comes from behind her holding my jacket. Fuccccck.

"Hey, Troy," she tells me with a smile and then looks over at Gabriella, no smile. "I wanted to give this back to you and thank you again for the ride."

How the hell does she have my jacket? Did she actually take it from my car? But there was no use in calling her out on it and embarrassing her, even though I definitely want to prove my innocence. At this point, I doubt Gabriella would believe me. It looks bad. "Um, you're welcome."

Karlie chuckled a bit and then pushed some hair out of her face, "I had a lot of fun. You should come to the party my friend's throwing on Saturday..."

"Maybe," is all I tell her before I look over at Gabriella, "I'm actually in the middle of something..."

"Oh, yeah, yeah," Karlie steps back, "yeah, I just wanted to give you that and thank you for the ride again. It was fun."

How could a ride be fun?! It was five minutes, on my way home, she was drunk and that's it. I dropped her off so fast, I didn't even know if she made it inside her house. It meant nothing. It is nothing. But it doesn't look like that. And I know she's doing it on fucking purpose to make it look like it's something.

She walked away and now I was left here, having to explain another thing to Gabriella that I didn't care to. Ugh. Why is this happening?

Gabriella looked back at me once Karlie was gone and just laughed, "Karlie Hopkins? Nice."

And with that, she walked way and I didn't want it to end like that. No. So I chased after her, got in front of her again and tried explaining everything. "It was an innocent ride home. I have no idea why she had my jacket, but it was nothing... noting like that. I promise."

"You can do whatever you want," she tells me, "we're not together."

"But still, I don't want her. Nothing happened. I wasn't even really hanging out with her. It was a ride home because she was drunk and on the way."

"That's fine, you can take all the girls home from a party, I don't care," she takes her keys out from her purse very calmly, "because you and I... this isn't going to work and... I have, I have to go."

Fuuuuuuck. "No, Gabriella, please just listen to me."

She shook her head, tried to push past me and not make any eye contact, "stop. I have to go. I'm done."

And since I'm not a beggar by nature, I let her go. I let her go around me, walk to her car, get inside and drive off. And here I am, standing in the parking lot alone, feeling like an idiot. Feeling like I just lost the best thing that I could have had. All because of a stupid choice I made. Fucccck.

I'm such an idiot. But I guess it's better this way. I guess it's better I'm not in too deep.

After all, Gabriella Montez is way too good for me. She deserves better.

* * *

Seven fucking days.

That's how long it's been since that whole thing happened with Gabriella and it sucks seeing her everyday at school and not being able to kiss her.

It actually really fucking sucks. And that's never been me. I've never been one to pine over a girl.

But Gabriella's different, of course. She's, like, one of a kind in this sea of girls at my school. In San Diego. And I definitely blew it. I know I did. I should have asked her if she wanted to go to the party or just not have gone at all. I probably shouldn't have gone. Ugh.

It's better this way. That's what I keep telling myself even if it is hard to hear. It is better. She deserves better than me.

It's still so hard to see, though. Like right now.

"Gabriella!" I hear someone call her name from behind me which makes Gabriella turn around.

Her friend Taylor is passing by me, heading towards her and Gabriella sees me, but does nothing, says nothing and once Taylor reaches her, they turn around and head to her car together. And I'm over here, jealous as hell that Taylor is able to do that. She can just call Gabriella's name and go up to her.

And sure, I can, too, but it definitely wouldn't get that response. No way. She would not say one thing to me.

"Hey man, you coming?" My friend Luke pats my back as he passes me.

"Oh, right, yeah, I am," I get out of my thoughts and just focus on... life. On now. I can't swell about it. I know it probably would have ended sooner or later so why not sooner? I need to just focus on soccer, school and I guess my friends. "Where to again?"

"Jersey Mikes, everyone's going," he tells me as we're now walking to our cars, "Matt, Jake, Cory, Jason's meeting us there, come on..."

I'm going. I don't know why he think I'm not and he's, like, pressuring me. Okay. Maybe because two days this week, I've totally bailed on them. But I just felt like going home and not talking to anyone.

But I can't do that. I don't want to do that. Gabriella is a girl I wasn't even in a relationship with. I can't be too torn up about it. I shouldn't be torn up.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm going," I tell him as we reach my car, "meet you there."

I get in my car and when I turn it on and realize there's absolutely nothing good on the radio, I open the console in the center of my car and look for my AUX cord so I could play my own music. And when I reach in there, not only did I grab my AUX cord, I also found a few other things I really wish I hadn't.

One was a note Gabriella wrote me one day. The day before I made her dinner at her house. She gave it to me after school when we carpooled and I put it in there while we went to grab some food.

_You look ridiculously sexy in that shirt today. ;)  
_

Fuck. It made me smile. And made me miss her. I never thought Gabriella would be the girl to be open and flirty, but she was. She definitely was. And all it took was a few weeks to bring that out in her but God, I missed her. I'm such an idiot.

And the other thing I found definitely did not help me missing her. Nope.

It was her bracelet. I don't know how it got in there. Why it was in there. But it was. And I didn't even know about it... til now.

Do I give it back to her? Obviously. I'm not going to keep it. Her grandma made it. She has to know it's missing. Right? What if she thinks she lost it? I don't want her thinking that. But I know she won't appreciate me showing up at her house later with this. Fuck. I put both down on the empty passenger seat and tried to push that out of my mind for now.

I was about to have lunch with my boys. I shouldn't be thinking about this or her.

But I just can't help it.

* * *

"Are you seriously that bummed out?" Briana threw a pillow at me, "how long were you even hanging out with this girl?"

"Shut up," I tell her, grabbing the pillow that fell to the ground and throwing it back at her.

She rolled her eyes as she got up and grabbed her iced tea from the coffee table and then went back to her seat on the couch, "no, but for real, are you okay? This is kind of weird. You acting this way."

I'm fine. I really am. "Bri, I'm just tired. I've said no to going to lunch before."

She looked at me, like she couldn't believe what was happening and laughed, "but not to sushi. You LOVE sushi."

"Look, I just played a game, we were one man short because of a red card and I'm beat. I just want to lay here and watch some TV and maybe have some food delivered to me, is that okay?"

"Geez. There's definitely something wrong with you," she gives me an annoyed face, "if you like this girl so much, why don't you go fix it?"

"It's not about her!" I yell at her, "I'm tired. I'm beat. I have so much homework that I probably shouldn't even be here right now, but I am and now you're starting to annoy me so maybe I should leave. I'll grab something on the way home."

Again, she gave me a look and then grabbed the control and paused the TV, "it is about her. Just admit it. And let me help you with your problems!"

Ugh. She's not gonna quit. And to be honest, maybe I'm lying. But I'm moody because of the game, we won 1-0 barely, and it was a sucky team. Like why didn't we do better and get our points up while we could have? Pissed about that. And also, Gabriella. She wasn't there when it was a home game which she usually goes to so that sucked. Everything kind of just sucks right now.

"How long were you two seeing each other?" she asks.

Fuck. Whatever. I'll give in. "I don't know, Bri, maybe like four weeks, a month, whatever that is."

She thinks about it herself and decides my answer is incorrect, "No, I think it's been like a month and a week or so."

"Okay, then a month and a week," I roll my eyes and sit up on the couch, tired from having been laying down for close to an hour. But I'm so sore so it hurts like a bitch moving. "Why does it matter?"

"I don't know. A month is a long time to get to know someone enough to know if you want to take that next level with them especially if they're both living in the same city, and they hang out as much as possible, which applies to both of you so I get it. I get why you're acting this way. It sucks."

It does suck, but I'm okay. I'm doing fine. I do want to just go p to her and kiss her, but I'm fine with things. "Look, eventually she was going to break it off because she' going to go off to an amazing college and meet some guy worth her time."

Briana looked over at me and rolled her eyes. "You're such an asshole. She likes you. She's been hanging out with you for a reason, don't you think?"

"Whatever," I shrug it off, "I'll get over it. It was just starting to get to a place where, like..."

"Where what?" she urged me to finish that sentence.

But I don't really know what I was going to say. "I don't know, Bri. I don't know anything. All I know is that it's probably better this way. It ends now rather than later and in the long run, we're both probably going to thank God that I was a jerk when I was and that'll be that."

I could tell Briana didn't agree with me, but it's my life, not hers. "Why don't you give yourself enough credit? Sure, you're not pulling grades to get you into Harvard, but you're a nice guy. You're a good person. You're funny. I've never seen you treat a girl bad no matter how many you've hooked up with. You've never been one to be douchey to them. So I don't get it. Why aren't you good enough?"

"I'm just not," I tell her. She obviously doesn't know Gabriella. "She's going to be doing big things with her life and I don't think I am. It's that simple."

"Megan didn't break your heart," she tells me, "no matter how mad and upset you seemed, I know she didn't. And that's your issue here. You know it's easy to fall in love with a girl like Gabriella so you're scared she's going to end up breaking your heart. I know it is."

Ummm. So what? Maybe. Maybe she's right. Obviously I don't care to admit it. "Whatever, I'm done talking about this."

Briana looks at me, shakes her head, grabs her purse and then gets off the couch and rolls her eyes at me, "whatever, you're an asshole. I'm gonna go grab lunch with Becky since you don't care to. And since you're being the worst."

I laugh because I know she can't stay mad at me. And I know this isn't a real fight. We'll be fine later.

But she does leave. She leaves me sitting on her couch with nothing to do and nothing to eat. Which is fine. I'm fine. Well... I'll be fine. I know I will.

It does suck, though. Missing her. Because I miss her a lot.


	23. Chapter 23: Gabriella

"You know, staying in and watching movies sounds fun, but there's this party tonight and I think it's going to be a lot of fun," Taylor tells me as she scoops some ice cream into her bowl, "we should go. Everyone's going to be there."

And when she says "everyone" it instantly turns me away from it. Everyone probably includes Troy. And no, I don't want to see him. "You go."

She looks at me and frowns, "no, I don't want to leave you. I want you to come with and have fun. It's senior year!"

"I know, but I just... no, I'm not really in the mood."

"Yeah, I get it," she sits down on a stool around the island with her ice cream, "I know you don't want to see Troy in a social environment, but you don't have to talk to him you know? It's at Millie Jorgenson's house. It's huuuge. You probably won't even run into him if we're being honest. Or half the people there."

Her house is big. And I did hear about it. I like Millie. She's always been nice. But ugh. "I don't know, Tay..."

She shoves some ice cream in her mouth and attempts to talk to me, "well, just think about it. You have a few hours, but I think it'll be a lot of fun."

I understood everything she said. Ha. I've known her long enough to know she loves to talk with her mouth full of food so you get used to it. You pick up on that language. "Okay, yeah, maybe."

It's probably a good idea to get out of the house and not sit around and think about him.

Because that's exactly what I'd be doing if I were to stay in tonight... think about him. And I hate myself for it. I hate how I'm constantly thinking about him. And missing him. When I shouldn't. I shouldn't. He was being the typical guy I knew he probably was. I was at fault. I know that. But it definitely still sucks.

And I'm not heartbroken, I'm not, I just didn't think it'd hurt this bad. I didn't think it was possible. After one fucking month.

But it is. Because we spent so much time together. Every single day, we talked.

I knew if I went to this party, I'd probably see him. He loves a good party. Everyone wants him there, I'm sure he wants to be there, too. So of course I'm setting myself up to see him, I know that. Which is why I think I'm crazy that I'm getting dressed to go to this thing.

"Where did you get those?" Taylor points at my maroon jeans that I come out of my closet wearing.

"Oh, um, Brandy Melville. A few weeks ago, I'm sure they're still there."

She smiled at me, looking happy that I'd be okay with her getting the same pants, but I don't care. We'd just have to call each other so we wouldn't wear them on the same day. Ha. No biggie.

A few hours have passed since she suggested the party to me and I couldn't believe I was here, applying some mascara, pretty much ready to go.

"It's going to be fine," Tay reassures me as she crowds the mirror with me, trying to put on some eyeliner, "there's going to be a lot of people. All our friends. You'll have fun. And I bet you he won't even try to talk to you. He hasn't. So that's good, right?"

"Right," I tell her with a smile even though I'm not sure if I like that he hasn't tried talking to me for two weeks now. Do I want him to? I don't know. It's weird. I don't think so. I mean, I can't be with him so why?

A few minutes later, Taylor moves back from the mirror, grabs her purse and throws it over her shoulder, "Okay, I'm ready."

And I'm as ready as I'll ever be. So off we go...

* * *

An hour in and I still haven't seen Troy anywhere. I think it's because he's not here.

Because Millie's house is huge and there are a lot of people here, people from other schools, our school and stuff, but I feel like I've seen everyone that is here. So yeah, I think he's not here, but it's 9:30. There's a good chance he's still coming. I don't know.

But you know who's here who I wish wasn't? Grant. Grant fucking Anderson.

And he's heading my way with a beer in hand and a stupid smile on his face. God. He was so obnoxious, it's so weird how he probably doesn't realize it.

"Hey, stranger," he tells me, "long time no see."

"Hi, Grant," is all I say as I try to move back him to go back to Taylor who's in the middle of playing in a beer pong game.

But he moves to the side, not letting me go through. "Whoa, what's the rush? I haven't seen you in a while. What's up? How have you been?"

I look over his shoulder and Taylor is busy with her game, I look around and everyone's having fun and then I just lighten up a bit. It's not the end of the world tat he's trying to talk to me. I shouldn't be such a bitch because he's obnoxious. Right?

"I've been good," is my simple answer. I'm not going to tell him I've been sad. No way. "How have you been?"

"Good now," he flashes a smile at me and it just makes me uncomfortable. I can't believe I actually kissed this guy. Sure, he's hot. But my God, just his aura. The way he carries himself. I don't know. Only Troy can pull this off. "I've been meaning to ask you to come to one of my games..."

No, thanks. Grant Anderson is not someone a girl can just be friends with. No. He wants more. And I definitely don't want to give him more. "Oh, sorry..."

He laughs and takes a drink of his beer, "you got hotter, you know... I'd love to take you out again. Maybe it won't be so hectic this time around."

Haaaaaa. I canceled our date, told him I didn't think it was going to work and two days later, I was on a plane to Hawaii for a few days as my last trip of the summer. I didn't cancel because I was going to be gone. Because it was the summer and both of us were in and out of town. No waaaay. I canceled because I didn't want to date him. It was a couple of dates we went on and the last two sucked. The first three were fine. But he didn't get that. He thought the timing just sucked. And that couldn't be further from the truth. Okay, timing did suck, but if it was another person, I would have made it work.

But it was Grant. And I just couldn't do it. He was SO cocky and obnoxious.

"Actually, I'm really busy with school and stuff right now, you know, college applications..."

"Those don't take all day," he laughs.

"No, they don't,'" I agree with him, "but you know... yeah, we'll see. I actually have to use the restroom, I'll see you in a bit, okay?"

Fuck. I didn't give him the chance to response. I turned around, headed inside and went to the bathroom to get id of him. He wasn't going to stand there and take no for an answer so I might as well just say maybe and get out of there and then say no later on through the phone if he does follow up with it.

After I was done using the restroom, I washed my hands, freshened up a bit, took a deep breath and hoped to God Grant wasn't outside waiting for me.

He wasn't. Hallelujah.

But when I turned the corner, I bumped into someone else I wasn't too eager to see.

Yep. Troy fucking Bolton. Okay, Troy Alexander Bolton. But whatever.

And it was dejavu. Complete dejavu. He grabbed me by the forearms to keep me from falling down and helped me become stable again.

"I'm sorry," he tells me and once he realizes it's me, he looks a little freaked out. "Um... sorry."

He said that already. And I'm now standing here, wondering what I should do. Should I say something. Anything at all. Or should I just walk away and leave him there like the idiot he is? Gahh. This is so hard. Why is this happening to me? This night actually sucks. I shouldn't have come and all. Stupid Taylor.

But I say something. Because by nature, I'm not a rude person. "It's okay."

He lets go of me, stands back and scratches the back of his neck, something I noticed he goes when he's nervous. "I'll um... I'll see you later."

WHAT? No. I'm the one that's supposed to walk away. What the fuck. ugh. Fine. Whatever.

I go outside for a couple of minutes, go over to Tay and tell her this party sucks but she's still in the middle of her game that I don't think she's listening to me. So whatever. I go over to my friend Cristal and sit with her before I decide to go call my sister. She has great advice, always. I need to talk to someone about this. I need something!

So as I walk through the house to go to the front where it's quiet, I see Grant and I hide so he won't see me because I really don't want to talk to him.

And as I'm hiding in the dining room, somehow he magically appears in the living room that is connected to it, but there's a wall so he can't see me. I can see him, though. And hear him. He's pretty loud. And talking to someone.

"Bolton," I hear him say, "hiding from someone?"

Fuuuck. It's Troy. He's talking to Troy. Who's in the living room, sitting on the couch, staring at his phone. "Nah. What do you want, Grant?"

Grant laughs as Troy gets up and they're both standing there. It looks like Troy wants nothing more than to leave his sight and I don't really blame him. "Oh, I never want anything from you, Bolton. The one thing I could want, you don't even have anymore."

"I get it. You took my spot," Troy tells him, "move the fuck on from that already."

"No, no, not your spot... Gabriella."

This is straight out of a movie. Like legit. Here I am, standing in the dining room, peeking my head out and these boys don't even see me! How could they not see me?! I mean, I don't want them to see me, but still. It's crazy. This conversation is crazy. And I shouldn't listen, but I just can't really help it.

They're talking about me. Grant brought me up. And now I can't look away. I don't want to look away.

"I don't have time for this, Grant," is Troy's response before he tries to walk around him and leave the room.

But of course, Grant blocks him and doesn't let him go through without saying something else because that's the obnoxious person Grant is. "What's the matter, Bolton? Embarrassed that she called it quits with you already? Heard about that. I told you that was going to happen, didn't I? Yes, I do."

Troy just stood there, not saying anything and then just shook his head, "no."

"I told you she was too good for you," Grant laughs, "it's best she's back to me now, going to watch my games. She's so fucking hot."

"Yeah, Grant, you told me," Troy replied.

Grant is fucking crazy.

I don't know why he says half the things he says as if it's okay. As if it's the truth.

Like, he says things that could easily be called out as a lie. When we were "dating" he told me that Lizzie, some girl at my school, cried over him because he didn't want to hook up with her. I didn't think anything of it, but I casually brought it up to her, and this is a girl who has no shame in her game so the fact that she told me no, well, that's crazy. It's crazy that he just says stuff as if it's true. It's not. And if you called him out on it, like tell him you found out it was a lie, he wouldn't even care. He'd just laugh and pretend like it's nothing.

Or maybe he really is a psychopath and thinks I want him again and said yes to going to his games.

"I think you were what she needed to realize that I'm better suited for," Grant proceeds to tell him, "I mean, did you honestly think you two would last?"

"She might be too good for me, but she's also too good for you," Troy told him before pushing past him and walking away.

Seriously. Grant's that guy in the movies that say ridiculous things, things you wouldn't imagine a person would say. Things that could easily be called out as a lie. Things that are so hurtful. Things you wouldn't fathom to tell someone. Yet... he says it. He says it all. And sure, I'm upset with Troy, but I still think Grant's being an asshole to him. Of course he heard what happened. Who doesn't hear something when Troy Bolton's involved? News in this town gets spread so fast, it's ridiculous. And here Grant is... being a little bitch to him.

As he was walking away, Grant kept going at it. "What's the matter, Bolton? Am I getting to you? It's not my fault Gabriella found out about Karlie."

"Nothing fucking happened with Karlie and you know that," Troy turned around, not being able to walk away from that, "you set me up. I know you did and that's fine, but if you do anything to hurt Gabriella.."

"You'll what, Bolton?" Grant mocked him, "you're done. You had my sloppy seconds and you ruined it. I have everything you could possibly want and you're pissed about that, but I understand. Gabriella's hot as fuck. My team is so damn good..."

It literally looked like Troy was about to punch Grant and I was worried because I honestly did not want to witness any violence.

But he didn't. Thank God. "I fucking get it, Grant. Gabriella's too good for me yes, I get it. I've known that. I know that. But so help me God, if you call her your sloppy seconds one more time I'm gonna fucking punch you in the face."

Grant was quiet. I think a bit afraid, too. But he composed himself and said one last thing before walking away. "Yes she is too good for you, glad you know."

And that was that. Grant was out of the room. Troy was standing there running his hand through his hair. And I was here, trying to decide what the fuck to do. And making a quick mental note to block Grant's phone number off my phone later.

Then, Troy Bolton stormed out of the living room and out of the house.

And for some reason, I chased after him. Because that's what my gut was telling me to do. To just go after him.

"Troy!" I called out to him.

"WHAT!?" He yelled, turning around and the minute he saw it was me running after him, his face softened. And that was very telling. He had no idea it was me who was calling him and when he did, his tone changed. That's got to count for something, right? I know it does. "Sorry."

I don't even know where to really begin. All I know is that I want to talk to him. And I want him to know something really important. "You're leaving?"

He still looked a little riled up and I felt a bit bad. "Yeah."

I'm just going to jump right in. I have to. I want to. Grant Anderson is an asshole. And sure, Troy Bolton and him are definitely the most popular guys at their respective schools but no way would Troy say that. No. I've never witnessed anything like that in my entire life. And I can't ever see Troy being that rude to someone. Say things that just hurt, you know? And that is exactly why I dated Troy longer than I did Grant.

"What happened with Karlie?" I asked him, which definitely caught him by surprise.

"What?" His face was so fucking cute.

"Tell me what happened that night," I tell him, "no interruptions."

He looked confused. Like if it's a trick question or something. But it's not. I'm getting somewhere with it. I just... I want to know.

And so he tells me as we're standing out here in the cold. "Okay, um, well, I went to that party. Hung out for a bit, watched a game of beer pong and around 11:30, I was just over it. Mainly because Grant showed up and he was being obnoxious, making out with Karlie and shit, who last year, gave me a ride home because I was drunk out of my mind and so why not? Repaying the favor. We left at 11:45, I dropped her off about five minutes later, I went home, texted you and then fell asleep. And so yeah.. that was my night."

Hearing what Grant said earlier, I believe him. I believe he didn't do anything with Karlie. And I feel bad for thinking otherwise. I do. "Okay."

"Okay?" he asks, as if that's all I'm going to say, "okay. Well, I'm gonna go..."

Fuck. Come on, Gabriella. Speed it up. He obviously isn't going to beg you to give him another chance. "I'm sorry for jumping to conclusions, but in my mind, me and you... I never thought it could actually work out."

It looked like he agreed as he shrugged his shoulders and slowly nodded his head. "Yeah, I know."

"But I realized I used that as an excuse to walk away because it'd be the first time where I'd feel justified in walking away and calling this whole thing off. Not just you ignoring me at school. And so I did, I walked away before you had a chance to break my heart because I know if I would have stuck around, there's no way I wouldn't get to a point where I was madly in love with you. And once I got to that point, you'd realize that you could probably get any girl you want, and then I'd be there... heartbroken and mad at myself for falling so deeply for someone so popular. But we shouldn't be afraid to jump, and then fall..."

This is all so weird. Admitting this. Saying I was going to fall in love with him. But it's true. And maybe a bit creepy, but I don't even care.

Troy stepped forward a bit and for the first time in two weeks, his eyes were looking directly into mine. Something I've been craving. "You do realize you're the best girl I've had, though? There's no topping you."

Swoooon. "Grant's a fucking asshole who has no reason to say those things to you because I'm not too good for you."

"What?" He looked surprised I brought that up, "You... you heard what he said?"

"Look, all I know is that you're kind, you're nothing but a gentleman towards me and you make me feel special. You make me laugh like no one else and you make me smile and I know I can tell you things and I can trust you. And if that doesn't make you good enough then I don't know what does. You are enough. You're more than enough for me, actually. And I'm sorry I just walked away. I'm sorry because I don't want to not be with you. I... I really like you."

Troy smiled at me and came even closer, grabbing my hands and intertwining them with his, "I'm sorry for leaving you to go to a stupid party."

And that right there is why I'm crazy about Troy. We're past it. We're past everything. We're well aware that we're back together and that we like each other, yet he's still apologizing for the one thing he actually did wrong. And the one thing I was initially mad at. It wasn't him going to a party. It was him LEAVING me to go to a party. And I'm so happy he said sorry.

"It's okay," I tell him before leaning in and giving him a kiss, "I'm over it."

I was. I like him too much not to be.


	24. Chapter 24: Troy

Honestly, I did not think my night would turn out like this.

But it's better than I ever thought it could be. Really. I came to this party because well, everyone was coming. And the minute I saw Grant and his guys, my mood just changed. And it's so annoying how he has that effect on me. But it's only now since he knows he can tell me things about Gabriella and he knows it'll get to me. I know it'll get to me. So I hate being around him. I just... ugh, I hate him.

And when I ran into Gabriella, literally ran into her, I was done for the night. I couldn't be here if she was. No.

So I went back inside, called Briana who was home sick with the flu and just talked to her for a little bit, vented, told her I was coming over.

But then Grant showed up out of nowhere and started saying all that. I know why he has it out for me. He liked Megan when we started hanging out. And he hasn't forgotten about that. And then Gabriella...

I meant every single thing I said to Grant. I had no idea Gabriella was listening. If I knew she was, I wouldn't have gotten so angry. Her seeing me like that was probably a turnoff. Or maybe not since she did run after me, but still.

And now I'm standing in front of her, our hands are intertwined, and she's forgiven me. She believes me. And that feels so good. So fucking good.

"Let's get out of here," I tell her.

She frowns a bit, "I have Taylor with me."

Oh great. She's such a good friend, there's no way she'd just leave her here. "Okay, well, what are you doing tomorrow?"

"Nothing," she smiles, but then changed her mind immediately, "oh, wait, I'm painting my room."

"Painting your room?" I ask, then realizing I've never actually been in there so I don't know if she actually needs a paint job or not. I shouldn't act surprised that she's going to paint it. Ha. "sick of the color or something?"

"Yeah, I want something a little more grown up. Plus, my parents are probably going to turn it into a second guestroom whenever I move out, so."

True. I'm sure my parents are going to do that with my room, too. Fuck. I want to hang out with her. I don't want to wait until Sunday. "Well, is anyone helping you out? Because if not, I can definitely help. It's not an easy thing to do..."

She smiles at me and shakes her head, tucking some hair behind her ear, "was going to do it all by myself so yeah, you're more than welcome to help out."

"I'll be there," I tell her, "after my game."

"Okay," she says, "which I'll be going to. We can get some lunch and then we can start painting?"

I'm actually an excellent painter so I'm sure she'll be pleased with my work. Also, anything to spend time with her. I couldn't care less what we're doing. Just being around her, talking to her is enough for me. And I think she feels the same way about it. Thank God.

Ah, this night is not what I expected, but I'm so happy about it. I don't want to seem TOO happy because I don't know if it'll creep her out, but I am.

"I'll pick you up," I tell her, "for my game, yeah?"

"Okay," she smiles and then looks back at Millie's house, "hey, I'm sure Taylor's having the time of her life and won't want to leave for another little while, so why don't we get out of here and get some food? You can drop me off after?"

I'm starving. So yes. Perfect offer. I reallllly want to get out of here, too. "Let's go."

And off we went. Hand in hand.

* * *

It's been a week and a half since Millie's party and everything feels back to normal. How it was a few weeks into dating.

And I was so fucking happy about it. Happy we could get past it.

After Megan and I broke things off, I never imagined having another girlfriend for years. Technically, we were't really boyfriend and girlfriend, but we were exclusive. We did agree that we were only seeing each other so I pretty much counted her as one. Anyway, I couldn't even think of having one. I just didn't want to deal with the stress and everything that came along with having one, you know? Because my last situation was fucked up and I was scared to get into another one that would be. another one that would end in disappointment and all that. So, I was set on steering clear from girls with potential.

But of course, I couldn't stay away from Gabriella.

I couldn't let her get away. Who knows if I would have seen her after high school. I had to take that chance of hanging out with her.

And so I did and here we are... boyfriend and girlfriend. And I'm so freaking happy.

Honestly. I'm so happy. My thoughts are consumed of her. My days are spent thinking about her and not just soccer and the next party anymore. No. She's now up there and I wouldn't have it any other way, honestly.

"What's up?" Gabriella comes behind me, grabbing my arm as I'm waiting in the quad for her.

"What?" I snap out of my thoughts, "nothing."

She laughed a bit, that cute little laugh she does and then fixed her soccer bag around her shoulders, "you ready?"

I nodded, picking up my bag from the ground, and then gave her a small smile to let her know everything was okay. I was just thinking. And my thinking face is kind of serious, so. "What are you in the mood for? I can go for a burger and fries or some Mexican food, to be honest."

"A burger and fries sound so good right now," that's my girl, "wherever you want."

We walked hand in hand to the car and I still can't believe this was my girlfriend. Gabriella Montez.

I know I'm not a bad guy, I know I'm pretty decent and I would never want to hurt anyone intentionally, but I just still can't get over that she likes me. And she does a pretty good job of showing me she does, of assuring me she likes me, but I don't know, kind of feels like I'm in a dream or something.

It's something I need to get over because I'm definitely not going to ruin this. No way. I'm in a little too deep now to ruin it by being stupid.

"I have to ask you something and you can totally say no if you want."

"What?" I look over at her once I come to this stop sign.

She kind of just sat there for a moment, looking out the window then back at me. "Um, my cousin... she's getting married in two weeks in Del Mar and you know, it'd be nice if you came with me, but if you don't want to, or if you're busy, that's completely fine. I just thought that..."

I want to go. I definitely want to go. "I'm not busy. So I would love to go with you."

"Really, you do?" She looks excited, which is so cute. "Because I understand if you don't, it's gonna be my whole family and I know that can be overwhelming so it's totally okay if you don't want to go."

"No, no, I want to go," I tell her, coming to a stop at a red light, "and your family's a huge part of your life, so why not? I'm all for it"

"Okay, cool," she smiles at me before leaning back in her seat.

I look over at her and every time I see her face, I can't help, but smile. Call me infatuated, call me obsessed, call me creepy, I don't know. I just really, really like this girl and I still can't believe that she's mine. That we're boyfriend and girlfriend and I'm the one she's going to call if she's sad or has a problem. I'm the one she's going to want to cuddle up on the couch with and watch movies. I'm the one who she's going to take to these functions. I'm the one who's supposed to make her feel beautiful and happy and loved. I'm the one who gets to hold her hand and kiss her whenever I want.

And I'm so excited for all of it. But so fucking nervous at the same time. So nervous.

I mean, she had a boyfriend for two years. TWO years. He's got to have done something right. He had to have been a good boyfriend if she stuck around for that long, you know? So obviously it's a lot of pressure. So much pressure to be a great boyfriend.

It's something I want to be so bad. I want to be a great boyfriend for her. I just don't know if I have it in me.

Because I've never really been someone's boyfriend before. Nope.

I know she's worth it, though, so I'm giving it my all.


	25. Chapter 25: Gabriella

My cousin's wedding was so beautiful that I wish it was mine.

That's a little weird since Troy and I have only been officially together for, like, a month and I'm not even 18 yet.

But it was beautiful. She was beautiful. He was handsome. Everything about it was beautiful. The song she walked down the aisle to. The moment my uncle gave her away. The moment her new husband saw her for the first time. Their sweet kiss. Everything. Every single thing about it was beautiful.

And now we're at the reception and it's gorgeous. Absolutely stunning and I can't wait to dance the night away with my boyfriend.

"Well, seems like he's fitting in nicely," Tori comes up behind me, which scares me a bit.

"I can't tell what they're talking about. What if they're grilling him?" I ask her, a little freaked out by my uncle and two cousins talking to Troy by the bar. They're nice, but tough. "Should I go over there?

"No," Tori laughs, "he's fine. I'm sure he can handle himself. Besides, they're not going to be mean to him. Being tough and mean are two different things."

She's right. They're tough, but they're not dicks about it. They're not, like, threatening or anything.

But still. I want them to like him. I want them to get along right from the start. Because the last thing I want is having awkward situations if I want to bring Troy to a family BBQ, which happen pretty regularly. I want Troy to want to come with me to family functions. I want my family to ask where he is if I don't bring him some days, you know? I want what Daniel and Brooke have. They love Brooke. My aunts adore her. My cousins love her. She's at every single party and or BBQ just hanging out with everyone, joking and laughing around. And I know I had Andrew for two years, but it was never really like that with him.

So, I want Troy to be that boyfriend for me. That boyfriend that the family loves.

"I'm pretty sure they're going to love him, don't worry," Brooke sneaks up behind us, holding a drink, "can you believe they didn't card me?"

"You really think so?" I ignore her drink question.

Brooke sips her martini while nodding her head, "yeah, for sure. Daniel thinks he's cool, they get along or whatever, so why wouldn't you cousins and uncle like someone Daniel does? You're over here looking stressed out for nothing. It'll be fine. I promise it won't be another Andrew situation. Troy's cooler."

They loved Andrew. My family. My extended family, eh, they liked him. But my mom and dad and sister, yeah, they loved Andrew. Brooke liked Andrew, but they always just thought he was a little... serious. At least for this family.

My uncles joke around like no other. My aunts bicker and tease each other constantly. And for Andrew, I think it was just a lot.

So often times, he was reserved, he would come and kind of just sit there with me, talking to my cousins instead of my aunts and uncles, which was totally fine, but I don't know. It was a little hard. Year two was easier because he was more comfortable, but yeah, it never got to that point where he could be in room with them without me and be totally fine. Like Brooke is. Brooke even has brunch with my aunt sometimes, just the two of them.

"Look, they're laughing," Tori points out.

I turn and see that Troy's laughing along with them and my mind is suddenly at ease. "He's so hot."

They laugh and I think they silently agree, which is fine. I don't really want my best friend and my sister calling my boyfriend hot. Ha. Weird.

Brooke sips on her martini and then puts it down on the table. "I know family is big with you guys and you guys are constantly getting together, but just don't push it. I think that was your mistake with Andrew and that's why he never fully blended in with everyone. He was just overwhelmed. I don't know. Just let it kind of happen naturally. But I get they have different personalities. Andrew's better on a one on one setting. Troy's more of a people person, you know?"

Oh for sure. YES. Andrew was great when it was just us two. Or people he was comfortable around. But throw in my friends or some of my family and he'd become sort of reserved. He'd hold back and stuff. I didn't know why. But that was him.

And Troy, he's just so... personable. He's confident and says exactly what's on his mind and is funny and outgoing. And just gets along with people.

"I didn't think you'd date after Andrew, to be honest," Tori tells me.

"Tor, I don't really want to talk about this."

She puts her hands up in defense, "no, I'm not trying to make it this big thing, I'm just saying. The way you're looking at him from here, like you want nothing more to do than to go over than and kiss him... it's nice. It's great. Those few months were brutal and I just, I'm glad you're happy."

They were so brutal. No one even understands. Unless you're with your boyfriend, you guys have this plan to be together and then he just changes it on you without telling you and in the next few months, he's on the other side of the country.

Who does that? Honestly. It was so hard. It was so wrong. And I'm just so happy to be past all of it.

Because yeah, Tori's right, the whole summer, I pined, I wallowed, I cried basically, and so maybe no one thought I'd ever date again. I certainly didn't.

The week before senior year, though, I told myself that it was the past and I'm moving forward. That it's senior year. I don't need a boyfriend. I don't need anything. I just need to have fun with my girls, get good grades, graduate and then go off to school and be excited for that.

Then Troy happened. And everything was out the window.

I now have a boyfriend. A boyfriend I never thought I'd have. A boyfriend who's popular and has a ton of friends and a ton of girls who like him.

Yet, he's with me. And we're somehow trying to make this thing work. But I'm so exciting about it because I like him. I like him a lot.

"Who knows what will happen," I shrug, looking over at Troy who's still laughing along with my family, "it's early, but it feels nice. And I know he hasn't been in a real relationship so I don't really want to rush anything, or you know, hang out all the time, because I don't want him to be overwhelmed or anything."

"So you're like his first real girlfriend?" Tori doesn't look confused, but she does look intrigued.

"I mean, he had Megan, they were pretty much together," I shrug again, "but that was only for, like, a month. I think we're a little more serious."

Tori looked over at Troy and kind of just smiled.

And then Brooke picks up her martini and chimes in, "you know, just don't expect anything. I don't know how he is with girls who he's dating, but I do know that I've never heard anything bad about him. I've never seen girls crying over him. I've never heard that he was a douche who didn't call when he said he would. things like that, you know? So maybe he's you see something in him, trust that. And don't think about it too much."

Brooke's absolutely right. I shouldn't expect anything. I should just let it play out.

And as I'm looking over at him watching him laugh and talk to my cousins, I can't help but have a good feeling about it.

Especially when he looks my way, catches my eye and smiles back.

* * *

"Is this overwhelming?"

"What?" Troy looks over at me, "oh, no, I'm fine."

I know he's fine. I know he's socially inept and he has social skills and everything, but still, it can be overwhelming. Especially with my family. They ask so many questions. They're so nosy. And I know they mean well, but it could be a tad annoying. I know that.

The last thing I want is for him to feel annoyed by all these people. "I know they ask a lot of questions, they're just trying to..."

"Honestly, they didn't ask me that many. A couple, but your uncles and cousins and I were mainly just talking about soccer. Sports. Kept it light."

"Really?" I don't think I believe that, "my uncle didn't ask about your parents? Where you grew up? How your childhood was? How your life is now? None of that? Oh wait. Did he ask when your birthday was? Your sign?"

Troy laughed as we sat down on a bench outside. "No, he didn't. I mean, he did ask where I grew up and if I'm close to my parents. A couple questions, for sure, but then conversation turned to sports and like TV shows. Is that weird?"

Umm. Yes. Super weird. My family is as close as you could get. My uncles are like seconds dads to me. My aunts, I can depend on them for absolutely everything and anything. My cousins are my best friends. And so they GRILL boyfriends and girlfriends that come into the family. Brooke was the exception because they already knew her. But they grilled Andrew. They grilled one of my cousin's ex boyfriend so much that he called it off, like, the next day or so.

"I just thought they'd grill you more," I shrug, still being weirded out by it, "I mean, they pretty much asked for Andrew's social security number."

"Seriously?" he laughed, putting his arm around me, "why?"

Why? Hm. We don't ever talk about this. It's just something that stays within my family, but I think I want to tell him. I think I can trust him with this. I don't think he'll go back and tell my family he knows or anything. So I should tell him, right?

Maybe not. But I don't want to make the same mistake again. I want him to understand where they're coming from and that they mean well.

Holy fuck. I cannot believe I'm about to tell him. I didn't even tell Andrew even after we spent all that time together. TWO years. I never once told him why my family is so protective. And why they grill. And why they're suspicious of people and everything like that. Never. And here I am, about to tell my boyfriend of, like, a month or something. Is that insane? Am I making a mistake? It's not like he'd care to tell anyone, but still... it's just something really personal.

Brooke knows. My sister's boyfriend doesn't. My cousin's girlfriend does. It's just something we take case by case, you know?

Of course Daniel told Brooke. Actually, I told Brook as well. She was basically part of the family. My sister didn't want to tell her boyfriend because he's not part of the family, so she doesn't think he should really know or something like that. My cousin told his girlfriend because she thought they actually hated her and didn't understand why they were so nosy about everything and so he told her...

And even though Troy's having absolutely no problems with them, I want to tell him. I want to let him in.

So I am. I'm about to let him in. And clue him in on everything.

"Um, about five years ago, my cousin Jacqueline, I'm not sure if you met her or not, but she had this boyfriend who she was seeing for about three weeks before she brought him over. And everyone was nice, everyone was inviting, no one thought anything of it. So he'd come to all these family functions, he'd hang with my cousins, he'd come over to different aunts and uncles houses and it was, like, whatever, like I said, no one thought anything of it..."

Troy looked like he was listening. Intently. And that made me happy. Like, he actually was interested and or cared.

I don't think I'm making a mistake letting him, but it is personal, so who knows...

He turned his body towards me a bit and so I did, too, and then continued, "he was just this guy Jac was dating. He'd ask questions and we thought he was just trying to get to know us and stuff, but around 3 or so months in, which was around the time of finals, he started getting really needy whenever she'd blow him off to study or whatever. And it was to the point where she wanted to call it off because she was so frustrated. I mean, he was infatuated. She liked him, but she wasn't like head over heels in love or anything so it was hard for her to comprehend what he was feeling for her. And finally after weeks of this crazy behavior he was showing that she totally looks back at now and said there were definite signs, she was just looking past it all because she really liked him, she dumped him and then it was a rough couple weeks, month after that."

"You don't need to tell me if it's too personal, I get it. I know families are protective and that's okay."

"It's gotten to the point where some people question even being with some of my cousins and I don't want that to happen with you," I tell him.

"No disrespect to your aunts and uncles or anyone, but their opinion of me wouldn't change my feelings for you one bit," he shrugs, "but even if they hated me and it'd be awkward to come around, I'd suck it up if it meant that much to you. I know family is everything to you."

Ughhhhh. Troy Bolton is something else. I'm aware he could be completely lying just to make him seem like this great person, but that's the thing... I don't think he is. I don't think he ever is lying to me. I've learned that.

I've learned that Troy Bolton is honest and genuine and just the best. And I really don't know why he hasn't had a girlfriend before.

Surely, girls would latch on the minute they realize how great he is, right?

So it makes me question this thing a little bit. But at the same time, not really, because I trust my gut. I trust that us being together is right... for now, anyway. And I trust that he's being sincere and honest with me and that he would never do anything to hurt me intentionally. I trust him. I do.

"He'd show up, demand to see Jac, threaten to kill himself if she doesn't talk to him, threaten us, saying he knows where everyone lives, their schedules, their lives and it was just really, really scary," I wrap this story up, "his grandparents moved him away, apologized for his behavior and got him the help he needed, but we all have a restraining order against him and he's not allowed to be near us or he'll end up in jail."

"So now your family is hesitant to every new person," he says, "which is understandable."

"Yeah. They failed to ask any questions about him," I tell him, "like when they asked about your parents, they never asked about his. And if they would have, they would have known that his mom was on boyfriend number 5 in the past two years and that his dad was nowhere to be found because he abandoned them when he was young. His uncle who kind of served as a dad died and so really, he didn't have anyone besides his grandparents. He never really had a girlfriend before, which was totally understanding, he was 16, so when he met Jac and she gave him that attention, he latched on. And then she broke up with him, left him and I know it struck a nerve. He felt like he had been abandoned his whole life. I mean, his mom was off gallivanting with her boyfriend, not even caring that we were putting a restraining order on him, so it was sad, it was. But we don't blame Jacqueline at all."

Troy looked like he was taking it all in. It's not a lot of pressure or anything crazy to hear this because if you're a good person, there's no need to not try to act a certain way you, know? And we also know this is a unique situation and not ever suffers like her boyfriend did. Or does. We don't really know.

After a moment of silence, Troy looked at me and gave me a small smile, "you can't blame anyone. You guys didn't know. But if your uncles want to grill me, I will fully let them. Because I could not even imagine going through that sort of thing. I'm sorry you guys had to."

"It was a bit traumatizing, but we know we're safe now and honestly, they don't think it's going to happen every time, but they just realized that they want to know who's hanging around, you know?"

"Definitely," he nods, "no, yeah, I get it. Thanks for sharing that. I'm sure it was hard."

"It's personal, definitely, but I don't think you'd run around and tell anyone," I smile at him, pushing some hair behind my ear, "I wanted you to know."

Troy then leaned forward and sealed this whole perfect night with a kiss.

And right then and there, I knew that this thing with us could actually work out.

It brought us closer together.


End file.
